A Dozen Friends
by idiot-inator
Summary: A dozen kids meet in kindergarten and become friends by graduation. The years roll by and they experience bullies, hormones, breakups, puberty, jobs and more. But they have one other. Phan, kickthestickz, shoey
1. Chapter 1

Hey, guys! I caught a cold spreading through my school/town. I'm better now and I've caught up witgh the class. Now here is something involving my twelve favorite YouTubers. Yeah, two of them were on BB16, but they also have YouTube channels, so it goes along with the a whole web show thing. I really need to put as much energy as I put into writing fanfictions and watching videos as I put into writing composition and solving math equations. Ha! I'm too much of a procrastinator for that. Well, I don't own any of these lovely people, kid form or not. Please read an review. Love you!

Day care. Day care is where he met the taller boy with the dark brown hair and green eyes. They talked about their pets and the boy was by himself because the other kids didn't like mice. PJ likes mice. He thinks they're soft and furry. Like the boy's hair, he'd said. Plus they both love pizza. And PJ had pointed out the boy's wristbands. He likes them. That is when he had finally looked up with a smile and said his name. Chris.

PJ is going into kindergarten with one friend in mind: Chris. Basic School is very small, because they live in such a small community. His mom has told him there are only twelve kids in his class. He knows Chris is his age, so he's got to be in his class. The question is, who else? PJ steps into the building and is instantly greeted by a young woman. She takes his hand and leads him to assembly.

There aren't many people around yet, but he wanders around the small room anyway. There are two boys running around making animal noises, but PJ doesn't recognize them. Then, he notices a boy sitting in the corner. He has sorta black hair, but also sorta orange-  
red hair. It looks chalky, PJ decides as he walks over to talk with him.

"Why you sitting all by yourself?"

"They don't like me." He answers without looking up.

"How come?"

"They think I got cooties in my hair."

"What is in your hair?"

"Chalk." He pouts. "Martyn tried to make it look cool, but now it just looks bad."

"Who's Martyn?"

"My brother."

"Oh." PJ nods. "It don't look bad."

"It don't?" The boy looks up to meet PJ's eyes. "For real?"

"For real."

A toothy grin comes over the boy's face. He stands up to face his new friend. "I'm Phil."

"I'm PJ."

"Alright, kids. Come gather around for assembly." The woman from before calls out.

The rest of the kids have come in. The ones who were acting like animals are sitting near the front. The others seem lost and cautious. They haven't been talking to anybody. Phil and PJ join them and listen to the woman. Her name is Miss Emily and she works with kindergarteners through third graders. She informs the class about school rules and introduces them to key people. They meet Miss Rice: the school nurse, Ms. Zimmer: the school librarian, Miss Rainbow: the K-3 counselor, Mr. Horn: the principal, and Miss Sway: their new teacher.

After assembly, Miss Sway leads her new class to their new classroom. It is very eye-  
catching and the kids are in awe. She lets them wander around the classroom for about thirty minutes before they leave for the cafeteria. Phil and PJ sit at a table to play a game of Favorites. The jumpy boys from before continue their game. A blonde girl wanders over to the small kitchenette, located next to the dress-up area. A shy boy tries on different hats. At the fireman hat, the girl points at it.

"I like that one."

"Fireman?"

"Yeah-huh. Uncle Jack is a fireman."

"I gotta uncle fireman too!"

She giggles. "I'm Marzia."

He smiles shyly. "I'm Shane."

Over by the picture and storybooks, there is a little boy with spiky blonde hair. He is wearing a baby pink T-shirt and is trying to read 'Goodnight, Moon'. It isn't long before Miss Sway announces it is lunch time, and the kids clamber for the door. The boy with the book goes to put it back on the shelf, but it slips out the other side. Marzia picks it up with a smile.

"Good. Night. Moon."

"I like that book."

"Me too. I'm Marzia."

The boy smiles. "I'm Frankie."

Miss Sway leads the kindergarteners into the kiddie cafeteria. This is the smaller cafeteria for strictly kindergarteners through third graders. There is a larger cafeteria past the atrium for the older kids. This small cafeteria has two lunch lines and the kids split down the middle. They grab their choice of milk or juice, a sandwich, a fruit and a cookie. Miss Sway and the cafeteria monitor lead the kids to the two tables available for the kindergarten class. There are six chairs at each table.

Being head of the line, the galloping boys take a seat at the same table. Marzia and Shane also sit at this table. Phil and PJ opt for the other table. A dishwater-haired boy with glasses slides in across from PJ, while his friend from day care Chris hops over next to him. PJ, being a friendly type, immediately discovers the dishwater boy's name is Felix. Frankie walks over then, taking a seat by Shane. A blonde boy with similar hair to Frankie slides in at the opposite table. Finally, the last two boys arrive with their trays. One has dark brunette hair and a pink baseball cap. The other has lighter brown hair and looks a bit squirmy. The one in the ball cap hops down between Frankie and one of the restless boys. The other timidly walks over to the remaining spot between similar-hair-  
boy and Phil.

"Can, can I sit here?"

"Course you can?" Phil replies immediately, flashing the boy a bright smile.

He smiles gingerly. "Thanks."

"I'm Phil." He points around the table. "And this is PJ and Chris and Felix and Jamie."

"I'm Dan."

"Cool. I like that name."

At the other table, the boy in the ball cap shoves the rowdy boy at his side. "What's your name?" He asks with a mouthful of ham sandwich.

"Lucas. And this here's Joey."

After a week of school, this becomes their normal seating arrangements. Lucas and Joey have apparently known each other a long time and they are neighbors. Marzia and Shane; Phil and PJ are instant friends, while the others just sort of fall in line. Miss Sway is halfway through the lesson on the letter of the week: R, when she notices one of her students staring out the window rather than participating.

"Joey, is there something on your mind?"

"Miss, how does the squirrels stick themselves to the trees? I can't do that?"

So, the letter of the week is put on hold so Miss Sway can teach her class about squirrels, and how they can climb better than humans. Two months later, Miss Sway has to step outside for the first time not during a rotation. She randomly leaves Felix in charge. Only seven minutes after she's gone, Chris is bullying the others for their packed lunches. Zack is wrestling him, breaking the crayons. Jamie is trying to tape the crayons, but when they get broke again, he joins in on the fight. Lucas is carelessly scribbling on the walls and Dan is on top of one of the tables, spinning around to draw attention from Chris.

When Miss Sway returns, she is dismayed. She finds Felix hiding in the closet with band-  
aids all over him. Dan has to visit Miss Rice after falling. Chris, Jamie and Zack get their recess priveledges revoked two weeks for fighting; Lucas has one week for scribbling. When they receive their recess, they maintain it two days. Then it is winter holiday. Lucas and Joey, PJ and Phil, and Marzia and Shane manage to spend some time together during the holidays.

The kids return to school in the middle of January. For a solid week, all Frankie does is complain. About anything and everything. The last week of January is a special Reading Week. Marzia finishes her book early and walks around to correct the mispronunciations of her classmates. On Valentine's Day, Phil only receives valentines from three people: Miss Sway, PJ and Dan. This makes him moody and he develops an attitude. In March, he wants to go outside to play when it is raining. Of course, the teacher says no, so he unleashes the bouncy yard balls, demanding they play kickball now. No luck.

In early April, the kids are excited about graduation. PJ constantly gets into trouble for trying to instigate conversations during nap time to talk about the event. The week before the end of school, the kids and their teacher go on a road trip (meaning a field trip that takes half the day to get there) and they visit the circus. The teacher brings along a Funny Fill-Ins game and some sing-along CDs.

Jamie is sitting near the front of the small bus with Joey. Jamie has fun doing the Fill-Ins with Miss Sway, but Joey is instead taking pictures out the window with one of the many disposable cameras he's brought along. Behind them sit Chris and Marzia. Marzia has brought along several picture and storybooks, and Chris is reading what he can as well. Acros from them, and behind the teacher, are Shane and Zack. They are loudly singing along to the CDs.

Behind them are Lucas and PJ. Lucas has a backpack full of snacks, but PJ doesn't notice since he is too busy singing along. In the back, behind them, are Dan and Felix. Dan reads out the words on certain signs that he knows until he falls asleep, but Felix simply remains sulking. Lastly, there are Frankie and Phil. Frankie is singing loud and proud. Phil mostly sings under his breath, getting most of the lyrics wrong, and falls asleep.

The circus is a lot of fun. The kids get their faces painted like animals. Dan, Marzia and Joey get their faces painted like tigers. PJ, Lucas, Shane and Zack look like elephants. Chris and Phil look like lions. Frankie gets a ringmaster's hat. Felix and Jamie pout throughout the trip, but ever so often a smile is on their lips. It was a fun outing and they are all asleep on the way back.

The following week is kindergarten graduation. They are all wearing paper crowns they decorated themselves. They are also wearing oversized longsleeved shirts that appear as gowns. When their names are called, they climb on top of the main picnic table. They point out who in their family is here and they recite a rhyme or poem.

"Bisognin, Marzia."

"Hi, Daddy." She smiles and then goes on to recite her poem. "A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to my friend and on the way I lost it."

Everyone claps and Miss Sway hands her a framed diploma.

"Crew, Jamie"

He points to the various people of his family. "Daddy, Uncle Dillan, my brudda Clinton an' my brudda Timmy." He clears his throat. "Baa, baa, black sheep. Has you got some wool? Yessir, yessir, three bags full."

After handing the diploma, Miss Sway continues. "Cruikshank, Lucas."

"My fam'ly's over there." He points out vaguely into the crowd. "There was a farmer had a dog an' Bingo was his name-o. B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-J-O and Bingo was his name-o."

"Dawson, Shane." He carefully sings the Days of the Week song.

"Graceffa, Joey." He happily recites "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" complete with actions.

"Grande, Frankie." Hey, Diddle, Diddle.

"Howell, Dan." He is shy reciting his quick poem. "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns. One penny, two penny. Hot cross buns. Some like em, um,"

"Hot." Phil sorta-whispers to him.

"Like 'em hot. Some, um,"

"Cold." He does it again.

"Some like 'em cold. One penny, two penny. Hot cross buns."

Everyone claps. "Kendall, Chris." Humpty Dumpty.

"Kjellberg, Felix." Itsy Bitsy Spider.

"Lester, Phil." He waves to his parents and older brother Martyn. "Mary had a little lamb. Fleece white as snow. Everywhere Mary went, then the lamb would go." As he steps down, he add-libs. "But I'd rather have a lion!"

Everyone laughs. "Liguori, PJ."

"One, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, shut the door. Five, six, pick up sticks. Nine ten, big fat hen."

No one corrects him. "Rance, Zack."

"One potato, two potato, three potato eyes. Four potato, five potato, six French fries."

Everyone laughs at his version of the rhyme. He leaps off the table/stage with a grin. All the kindergarteners then line up and throw their crowns in the air. They have graduated.

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How does it seem? Good? Bad? Ready for them to age? Let me know in the comments please!


	2. Chapter 2

Here are thanks to be said for last chapter's reviewers: DarkPitchBlack and Plantasticphil. This chapter starts their aging, as in they'll age from first through third grade in this chapter. I don't have many differences for these grades. Again, I own no one here. Please, enjoy.

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First grade goes by too quickly. Phil and Dan have gotten to be better friends. Phil boosts Dan's confidence, but also drags him along as the two annoy their new teacher. The front office becomes the boys' second home. Phil is mostly acting out, though, because Martyn is thirteen now and going on his first date. His parents are more consumed by that. Joey is jealous of the duo, but he is still a close friend with Lucas. The two of them are bullied a lot by Jamie, Shane and PJ.

Marzia is very quiet. She isn't very confident in herself and wuld much rather just observe from behind her book. Her accelerated reading level has already gone beyond the third grade level. Zack is rowdy and will take any excuse possible to leave the room. When he does finally leave, he makes sure to stay gone for a while. When he is gone, he normally spends it wandering the halls or sometimes running out to the playground. Frankie admires Dan and Phil, but he is very shy to talk to them.

Phil always acts overprotective toward Dan, clinging on him and leading him one way or the next. It intimidates Frankie, despite him being a social butterfly. Felix has seemingly recruited Chris to join his sulking rage. Neither of them are popular, nor do they like school. They mostly just isolate themselves and sit and pout all the time.

Once first grade is over and second grade begins, they are having recess with the third graders. There is a troupe of third graders – named Anthony, Ian and Connor – who are the top bullies. There is a showdown at the merry-go-round between the three third grade bullies and the three second grade bullies. They decide that whoever can last the longest in the toughest and can rule the playground for the rest of the year.

PJ loses almost instantly, crashing into the sandbox. After a while, Ian is too dizzy and Shane almost gets sick. Recess is still happening. Most of the kids are crowded around the carousel, watching it spin. Anthony and Connor represent the third grade bullies, while Jamie is the sole bully of the second grade. Around and around it goes, and Connor gets sick. He doesn't leave the merry-go-round, though. Anthony almost gets sick from it though, and lets go.

It seems like it is going to last forever, until a whistle is blown for both grades to leave the playground. Everyone dissipates except the two on the 'ride'. They keep spinning. Jamie's name is called and his head snaps up in acknowledgement, but he doesn't move. Connor's full name is called and he involuntarily winces. The full-body cringe has him slipping on his own vomit. He flies off the merry-go-round and Jamie Crew is declared the ruler of the playground.

A few weeks later, Shane hasn't been bullying much. He still acts hateful most of the time to everyone, but he has gotten closer to Chris. Lucas has started bringing in his mom's homemade cookies in the hopes of making friends. When it does, Marzia follows his example with some of her mom's homemade apple pie. Joey and Frankie hang out with one another and are slowly building more confidence. PJ doesn't really bully and has found a bit of a passion in chalk art.

Zack has started hanging out with Dan, doing wild things that automatically get them into trouble. Phil started hanging out with Felix, thinking a little more, but ultimately getting into trouble. When a new park opens right before spring break, the old park is left vacant with a few broken down pieces of equipment and a really large oak tree. Frankie comes up with a bright idea to build a treehouse. He enlists the help of his grandpa, classmates and classmates' family to help.

They work on it through most of the break and have it completed by Thursday. The second-graders claim the treehouse as their Super Secret Club. The first and foremost thing they need is codenames. Phil comes right out with Amazing Phil, and Jamie is Lazy Jamie. Dan plans to be danisnotonfire, and Shane is now Shaney Boy. Zack is Zack Attack, and Lucas picks what he thinks is the best name in existence: Fred. Frankie picks at a bedazzle on his shirt and names himself Rinestone. Felix becomes Pewdiepie, though he has no idea where it came from. Marzia likes the name and calls herself Cutie Pie. Joey decides to add his favorite person into his name and he is Grandfather Joe. PJ laughs when he comes up with his name: kickthePJ. Lastly, Chris becomes crabstickz.

Sooner rather than later, it is time to start third grade. After being in school a good five weeks, their teacher Mr. Clifton has announced there will be a couple of extra-terrestrial scientists coming in to talk with the class. When the big day comes, Joey and Jamie have split the class in half. Joey has high claims that aliens exist and some may already be here. Jamie up and down asserts they are not on Earth because they do not exist. Shane wants to join in on their debate but decides they both make good points.

"I've been abducted before, y'know." Zack proudly stands on his desk to show off. "But I fought 'em off and ran all the way back."

"How do we know that you're really you, then?" Lucas calls out. "How do we know you're not just some alien scum who took over a body?"

Marzia's eyes widen at the thought. She runs out of the classroom and the teacher reprimands both Lucas and Zack, who sit back down. Felix sits arms crossed in the back of the room, but his eyes are following everything with anticipation. Dan joins Shane, whispering about how both make good points and which one is real. Are aliens real or not? Frankie tries to think up a question to ask the scientists, but he doesn't want to sound dumb. So, he keeps quiet. Phil has been packing clay and pipe cleaners to his face during the argument. He finally rises and attacks Jamie, tackling him to the floor. Joey starts laughing, but Jamie screams and flails around.

"A alien got me! Aaaaah!"

"Jamie, inside voice." Mr. Clifton sighs. "Phil, get off Jamie and take that stuff off your face. Felix, will you please go find Marzia and bring her back to class? Chris, PJ? Don't think I don't see you two playing paper volleyball back there. Class, say thank you to the scientists for coming in today."

The kids can hear the severity in their teacher's voice. Jamie quiets and Phil leaps off, dismantling his mask. Felix walks out the door to search for Marzia. Chris and PJ drop their paper in the trash can. Everyone – minus Felix and Maria – sit at their desks and face the front.

"Thank you."

Later in the year, in late October, it is career week. Mr. Clifton goes around, asking his students what they want to be when they grow up and why. He goes to Felix first.

"I'm gon' be a engineer. 'Cause I like to fix stuff."

"I'm gonna be a astronaut." Shane answers. "And visit Jupiter."

"My Aunt Maggie is the CEO of her company. It means she's the boss of everyone there." Chris states proudly. "When I grow up, I'm gonna have my own company, just like her."

"Paleontologist." Frankie surprises the teacher with the big word. "That means I'm gonna dig up dinosaur bones."

"I'm gonna be that guy who gets to go on roller coasters for free and make sure they're safe and give them like eight stars out of ten or whatever." Zack sounds really excited over his ideal career.

"I'm gonna make my own video games." Marzia announces. "Some real fun ones too. Not all that stupid fighting and racing all the time."

"I'm gonna be a UFC fighter!" Lucas whoops and then giggles.

"I'll be a veterinarian." Jamie answers. "And if anyone picks on me I'll lock you in a cage."

"I'm gonna be a country western gospel singer." Joey declares. "Just like my sister. Nicole's in the seventh grade and she's got a band that plays in that old church. So she's gonna have her abnd and I'm gonna be singing and then I'll join her band."

"Sounds like you have that all planned out. What about your producer?"

"Producer?" Joey cocks his head to the side.

"Yeah. Who'll book your gigs and make sure everyone's all good to go?"

"Um,"

"I'll do it!" Dan offers. "Then I can go on tours and stuff with you guys."

"Alright. It's settled." Mr. Clifton smiles. "What about you, Phil?"

"Well, my brother was talking about being a Playboy,"

The teacher nearly chokes on air. "How old is your brother?"

"Fifteen. But I think I'll just be a shrink."

"Do you know what a shrink is?"

"Yeah. They're a people doctor but for your head and what you think about. They say like tell me stuff and then they ask you stuff and sometimes you draw stuff and they tell your parents stuff. And it's supposed to make you be a better family again."

Mr. Clifton merely nods and looks over to his one student who hasn't been participating. "PJ? You ahven't given us an answer. What sort of job would you like to have?"

The boy looks up, interested. "Taste tester."

"Alright." He answers uncertainly. "Shane, you said you were going to be an astronaut and visit Jupiter. Any particular reason?"

"We can make alien babies!"

"I wanna make alien babies!" Felix exclaims.

"I wanna save 'em." Lucas adds. "Me too." Chris pipes up.

"Alien friends!" Frankie and PJ call out in sync.

"I just like outer space." Jamie inserts. Zack, Joey and Marzia agree.

Mr. Clifton runs a hand through his hair. "You two are awful quiet. Do you not want to visit space?"

"No." Dan and Phil answer automatically.

Soon enough, the conversation on space is forgotten. Winter comes and goes. Springtime comes and Marzia is the field trip chaperone. She is also the driver. She has brought a few carpool sing-along CDs for the kids, and Jamie, Frankie, Joey, Chris and Dan are immediately on board. Marzia knows where her mom keeps the snacks, so she and Lucas are digging in. Zack is always calling out that he needs to pee and Ms. B tells him to wait. PJ wants to play a game, but no one wants to join in. Phil tries to read but he gets carsick. When they stop for him, Zack gets to pee. Zack and Phil then go to sleep along with Shane and Felix for the rest of the way.

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So, what did you think of the rushed ages? I can't do the singular age for each chapter, but I really liked my fourth grade class. So, the third chapter may be short, but it'll be totally fourth grade. Then the next chapter will deal with grades five and six. When they eventually hit high school, it'll be multiple chapters for just one full year. Tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, guys! In case you haven't heard, I'm going to be away this summer. So, there will be no uploads. I might be able to upload something on Thursday, but there are no promises. Friday is my last final, so I will be leaving Saturday morning. No Internet access. Thank you, Plantasticphil and DarkPitchBlack for being my supportive reviewers. Also, thank you to the 18 readers thus far. While I won't have Internet access this summer, I will find a pen and paper and be writing the upcoming chapters, carrying on throughout high school. Plus, I will most likely be writing more than just this story – more phan. Thank you for reading and remember I do not own any of these people unless stated otherwise. Enjoy.

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On Halloween week of fourth grade, the kids are asked to come to school dressed as their favorite Disney villain. Luckily, all the kids have different ideas. PJ is dressed as Gaston, Marzia is Ursula, and Jamie is Lucifer: Lady Tremaine's cat. Felix is dressed as Jafar, Shane is Hades, and Zack is Scar. Frankie comes dressed as Captain Hook and Joey is Kaa the python. Chris, Lucas, Dan and Phil are dressed as girls. Chris is Yzma and Lucas is Evil Queen, though they aren't going all out or anything. Dan comes in as Cruella Dan-Vil and Phil is Malephilcent. The boys dressed like girls are ostracized from the others.

This coldshouldering doesn't last too long. A few weeks later, in mid-November, Jamie instigates a fight with fifth graders Anthony, Connor and Tyler on the playground. Felix runs into the safety of the school, not wanting to deal with it. A crowd forms and PJ is trying to explain to everyone what is happening. Marzia had run in after Felix, only to come back with some popcorn. When she returns, Phil has joined the fight for fun and another fifth grader – Troye – has also joined. Shane is attempting but failing to calm down everyone.

Dan is leading the crowd in the oohs and ahhs before one of the fifth graders (Ian) gets tired of it and shoves him from the crowd, into the fight. He isn't really a physical fighter, so he mostly dodges and cowers. Lucas cheers the fighters on from his grade. Frankie tries not to get excited but is off to the side excitedly watching with Zack. Chris completely ignores the fight, along with a couple other fifth graders who are taking advantage of the open playground. The teachers come running out just as Joey has joined the fight to drag Phil and Dan out. Eventually, everyone is broken apart and the fighters – Jamie, Anthony, Connor, Tyler, Phil, Troye, Dan and Joey – are sent to detention.

"Why'd you gotta do that?" Joey asks Jamie before stepping into the supervised classroom. "Why'd you gotta fight with them?"

"Anthony was making fun of us. Di'nt you see that? Thinks he's so cool an' stuff. So big and strong an' stuff. I'm big too, y'know. I'm strong too."

Later on in the year, getting close to winter holiday, Frankie decides to throw a big sleepover at his house. He decides it'll be a practice sleepover for waiting up for Santa. Instead of sleeping, they'll challenge each other to stay awake. All the kids agree on it and the parents approve. The Friday beginning winter holiday, all the kids ride the bus home with Frankie and his first grade sister Ariana. Shortly after getting home though, Ariana leaves to have a sleepover at her friend Allie's house.

The kids start the sleepover off by creating a huge blanket and pillow fort for all of them to sleep in. When they finish, Frankie's grandpa calls them into the kitchen for pizza and ice cream. His mom is already in there and immediately wants to know about several of Frankie's friends.

"Zack, I hear your mom's expecting anytime now. Is that right?"

"Yesh." He answers, swallowing a bite of pizza. "Mom thinks it's a girl."

"Do you want a sister?"

"I guess." He shrugs. "But what I wanted was a brother. We'd name him Gator. You can't call a girl Gator."

She smiles. "And Lucas? You're going to have another younger brother or sister too, right?"

"Sister." He nods. "The doctor told them already. And he says she'll get here after Christmas. So Santa can't help with that."

"Ah. I suppose that's true. Isn't there another one of you who's about to welcome a new little one to the family?"

"My mum is gonna have a baby but I don't know when or if it's a sister or a brother." Dan responds before digging into his ice cream.

"Alright. Well, I'll leave you kids to it. Frankie, lights out by eleven."

By ten-thirty, the dozen has eaten their food, played Twister and watched The Lion King. Most of the kids are used to going to bed around eight-thirty or nine, or maybe ten at the latest. However, thanks to Frankie's challenge, the kids are determined not to fall asleep. The kids hook up Dance Revolution and turn the music down low. Jamie and Frankie take the first turns with 'My Fire.' Frankie wins and Lucas and Zack take the mats with 'Brilliant2U'. Zack. Shane beats Chris with 'Trip Machine', and Marzia beats Felix with 'AM-3P'. Phil beats PJ on 'Butterfly', and Dan beats Joey on 'Make It Better'.

Frankie is then paired off with Marzia in 'Put Your Faith In Me', but Marzia is grumpy and stomping more than playing. Frankie easily wins. Eleven o'clock rolls by but the kids don't notice. It is Zack against Dan in 'Boom Boom Dollar', and Zack falls asleep, on the spot, in the middle of the game. There is a pause while the kids drag Zack into the fort and Marzia falls asleep at his side. Then, it is Shane versus Phil with 'Strictly Business – Japanese Version'. Shane gets slow in his movements and Phil wins.

Just as it all boils down to Frankie vs. Phil vs. Dan, Frankie's mom pops in, reminding them of what time it is. She sees Zack and Marzia asleep in the fort and Shane crawling for it. The kids then retreat into the fort as she turns the game off, but they slip out the back to battle with empty water bottles on a miniature trampoline that is actually Ariana's. Frankie still wants his final face-off, so he battles with Phil. Meanwhile, Chris just watches blankly as PJ falls asleep on him.

Jamie and Felix have begun to get cranky as Phil sloppily wins and Dan grumbles but climbs up as well. Chris and PJ fall back into the fort behind Felix and Jamie. Dan whines the entire time during the battle while Joey bounces on the floor beside them. Lucas slowly crawls into the fort and falls asleep amid the mound of people. Frankie checks the time grumpily, finding that it is only about eleven-thirty. He forgets about the challenge and goes to sleep inside. Joey stops bouncing and crashes, with Phil tackling Dan into a pillow. The boys crawl into the fort.

"For the record," Dan yawns. "I totally beat you."

"Yeah, right, Danny." Phil sleepily responds, hugging his friend. "Right."

During winter holiday, two weeks after the sleepover, PJ and his family are on a retreat. It is a skiing and sledding resort, and it is where PJ meets CJ. CJ has dirty blond hair and knows how to ski. She is ten and lives just two towns over from PJ. She invites him and his family over to their rented cottage for hot cocoa and she kisses PJ under the mistletoe. Blushing, he still smiles and asks her a cute question.

"Do you wanna be my girlfriend?"

She giggles and nods. "You're cute. We can go sledding tomorrow. If you want. Or I can teach you how to ski. If you want."

"Can you teach me?" He asks shyly, looking down at his feet.

When they are leaving the resort, PJ and CJ have exchanged addresses and phone numbers. It is three days until Christmas. While they are returning, Zack and his family are in the hospital. His mother has just had a baby… boy. Zack is excited about having a baby brother and wants them to name him Gator. Instead, he is named Peyton. After Christmas and into the next year, but before school starts again, Kayla Cruikshank is born. Allie is six and in first grade, Lucas is almost ten and in fourth, Stephanie is almost twelve and in sixth, Emily is thirteen and in eighth, and Maria is eighteen and an online college freshman.

Four days before Valentine's Day, Adrian Howell is born. The day before Valentine's Day, PJ asks CJ to go to the movies with him. She responds by saying she is sick, and he complains that they still have not been on a date together even though they are supposed to have been dating almost two months. After hanging up, he calls Chris to go with him instead. There, he runs into CJ seeing a movie with Troye – one of the fifth graders at his school. Cue awkward fourth grader silence and PJ running away.

Chris and PJ leave the movies after Chris dumps CJ on PJ's behalf and he finds his friend. The two go over to Chris's for some of his aunt's devilled eggs. PJ feels embarrassed but Chris just calls over their friends. The gang eats the devilled eggs in Chris's kitchen and tries to cheer up PJ.

"It's no loss, Peej." Shane claps the boy on his back. "She's just a crusty bowl of oatmeal."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. Like that oatmeal your mom makes you in the morning only you don't finish and it's still sitting out when you get back home, all crusty and you can't eat it? Crusty bowl of oatmeal."

"No," Felix disagrees. "She's not oatmeal. She's a rusty coffee can."

"Huh?" PJ is still confused.

"Yeah, the coffee can looks all cool and stuff, but it's only the stuff that doesn't taste good. And it's even worse because it's rusty. So once they try it, they don't like it and it gets thrown away."

That makes PJ smile. "Yeah. A rusty coffee can she is, then."

PJ throws away the address and phone number for his rusty coffee can ex-girlfriend. She is no longer thought of or mentioned. Time goes by pretty fast after that.

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Well, that was chapter three, and up next, the kids will be starting fifth grade. I love reading the reviews from you guys!

My OC: CJ


	4. Chapter 4

Hello, guys! This one has been in the making for quite some time. I am having a lot of fun writing this one and I hope everyone is enjoying reading it. I like seeing multiple visitors on the traffic flow page; I wish I knew what some of you were thinking.

Personal thank yous to my reviewers: Plantasticphil and imdefinitelynotaserialkiller.

Remember, anyone can always review or PM me. I only own my OCs, which I will list at the bottom. Read and review!

Fifth grade starts for the crew soon enough. Fifth graders get two teachers. One is for science, math and social studies. The other is for language arts, reading and vocabulary. Their first teacher's name is Miss Morgan and their second teacher's name is Dr. Hugle.

It is soon Halloween week and this year's theme is cartoon idols. They are asked to dress like their favorite cartoon characters that mean something to them. Shane buys a black wig and grabs some nerdy glasses with the lenses poked out for a complete Mandark look. Joey comes in dressed like Beast Boy with even green face paint and hair. Felix buys an already-made costume so he can be Courage, and Zack has the most simplistic costume to be Bloo, the imaginary friend.

Marzia gets her hair in pigtails and uses an eyebrow pencil to make herself have a unibrow to look like Helga G. Pataki. PJ borrows some of Joey's green face paint (which he's basically got covering his whole body), and he does the same – minus the hair. He straightens his hair, though, and adds shades to complete the look of Ace D. Copular. Lucas comes in wearing a fake nose and a dopey baseball cap, resembling Billy from Grim Adventures.

Jamie comes in with his hair in a chip flip, wearing a duck on his green overalls. He is Phil Deville. Chris makes a spectacle of himself, dressing as the wannabe-human-alien Zim. Frankie, Dan and Phil, though, raise a lot of suspicion. Like last year, Dan and Phil have dressed like girls. This time, Frankie is joining them. Frankie has got himself looking mechanical with the help of his grandpa and younger sister. He is XJ9. Dan has gotten a long black wig and has come to school in an oversized long-sleeved green shirt that drapes over him like a dress.

He borrowed it from Joey's older sister Nicole. She is fourteen and a high school freshman. Dan is Numbah Three. Phil has tried dying his hair blonde, but it has come out as orange-red. He has instead gotten a blonde wig. His older brother Martyn is seventeen and a high school junior. He had to brush out Phil's wig hair and place it in a ponytail. Phil throws on a green girly top and a pair of khakis, and he is Cindy Vortex. Again, they are cut off from the rest of the school – though they are photographed for the yearbook.

Though this ostracizing lasts a while, it isn't completely long lasting. By the time they reach mid-November, Chris overhears Anthony and Ian talking about a rated R movie coming out. It is rated R for marijuana use, gang violence and language – but it is the hottest movie of the year. The sixth graders are sneaking in with some high schoolers and suddenly Chris has a brilliant plan.

"You want us, to sneak into that movie?" Felix hisses while riding on the bus.

"Yeah! It's supposed to be the coolest ever!"

"I think it's stupid. And a stupid idea." Zack crosses his arms.

"How do we even sneak in?" Jamie asks carefully.

"Easy." Chris smirks. "We buys tickets for that cat movie, and sneak through to the next theatre, and then the next one. That's where it's playing."

"I went to see Kitty Klueless with Allie. It's a musical about cats on a pirate ship. And it's really cheesy." Lucas comments. "Sudden Freedom sounds like a plan. I'm in."

"I am so in." Phil adds excitedly.

Dan and Shane agree. The rest just fall in with them. The kids go through Friday evening and Saturday as per normal. At four pm on Saturday, they head out to the theatre. Marzia's mom takes her, Felix, PJ and Joey. Zack's mom takes him, Frankie, Dan, Jamie and Lucas. Shane, Phil and Chris walk. Twelve tickets to Kitty Klueless and Zack grabs a lot of concessions. They settles in down front and off to the side. The previews are showing and the ushers are checking tickets. After the title is shown and a hoard of young children are singing along with the theme song, Chris signals the others. They drop to their hands and knees, and crawl behind the screen.

Once they make it to the correct movie, they crawl to an off row of seats, directly beneath the glow of the screen. Bullets fly fast as cuss words and insults, but Frankie, Marzia and PJ are bored. The former two are cracking jokes and making up witty banter, better than the script itself. The latter has already fallen asleep. Lucas keeps predicting what'll happen next but keeps getting it wrong. Jamie and Felix are scared, hiding behind the others and wanting to melt out of their seats.

Joey follows Zack back to Kitty Klueless, but the former returns shortly after. Dan is emulating the noises to scare Felix, while Chris and Phil are shouting at the screen – to tell the characters what they should be doing, ignoring other patrons' complaints. Shane is even egging on the mob boss. Soon though, before the movie ends, the complaints are too much. A couple ushers are called in, and thankfully, Joey notices. The kids drop to their hands and knees and sneak out of the movie. They bypass a romance movie and join Zack at the end of Kitty Klueless, where he is singing along.

The kids keep this sneak a secret to themselves – while they sing the catchy Kitty Klueless songs without even realizing it. KK becomes an ironic movie for all to watch. The songs become a big deal, especially for PJ. Once the music hits his mind, he will not shut up in singing along. It has gotten to the point that Felix and Phil will tackle him to the ground whenever he opens his mouth if cheesy music is nearby. Luckily, this subsides by December when the KK songs are replaced by holiday carols.

After the holiday break, Jamie has emerged as a bragger. His brother Clinton is seventeen and got a car for Christmas. His other brother Timmy is seven and got a battery-powered pedal car for Christmas. Jamie got an ATV. Felix and Frankie have no time for this, thrusting all their attention towards their schoolwork. Felix actually becomes aggressive toward those who keep him from doing his work, like when Chris wanted to show everyone the new desk he had woodcrafted with Marzia and Zack's help, for their clubhouse. Marzia is a tomboy and Zack keeps tackling people – primarily Frankie, attempting to get the latter to have fun.

By March, Lucas has begun whining over everything – due to no one paying him attention at home. His oldest sister, Maria, is nineteen and is arguing with their parents over whether she should be in college. The second oldest, Emily, is fourteen and is arguing with their parents over her right to date a boy who is half a year older. Stephanie is twelve and she thinks she deserves a later curfew than just eight o'clock. Lucas's younger sister Allie is seven and wants to go to a sleepover with her classmates – including boys. Amid it all, Kayla is only a year and needs constant attention. Lucas feels left out at home and he is becoming a burden on his friends.

Phil has started stealing things from other classmates – pencils, candy, and lunches – to please Lucas's bellyaching. Shane and Dan feel like they are living on the edge of the friend group the way everyone is changing so quickly. Joey is also pining for attention at his home since his fourteen-year-old sister Nicole has started collecting Barbie dolls. He is a little more aggressive in the manner though, ripping the dolls' heads off and switching them around. He keeps it at this medium, however, and never acts out toward his friends.

When April comes around, all the fifth graders are required to watch a sex education video. Their reactions come in variety and are interesting, to say the least. Felix and Marzia are barely watching, opting to instead work on their homework. Marzia is squirming though she and he already know this, because it makes her uncomfortable. She is subtler than Lucas, who spends the video making gagging noises. Shane, being bored, already knows this as well, manages to sneak out of the room, and eventually heads to the playground with the sixth graders.

Jamie, the ever curious, looks up to Ms. Cair, the audio-visual teacher and asks, "So, a clitoris? Do boys have that?"

Seated nearby, Ms. Cair also hears Chris's grumbled addition. "I thought babies came out of your tummy…"

She asks to speak to the two of them when the film is over. Dan and Joey are uncomfortable, squirming in their seats, while PJ and Frankie loudly voice their simultaneous opinions.

"What the heck was that? Who lied to me?"

After calming the class down, Ms. Cair returns with Jamie and Chris. "Does anyone else want to talk with me about what we just watched?"

All eyes divert toward Phil in the back, who is giggling. "That was weird."

At the end of May, Maria is set for college in the fall, and Emily is dating. Stephanie's curfew is extended to eight-twenty, and Allie is allowed to go to co-ed sleepovers if there are more girls than boys and they are all about the same age. Their dad Dave is rocking Kayla to sleep and their mom Molly finally has some one-on-one time with her only son Lucas.

"Do you feel butterflies in your tummy when he looks at you?"

Lucas nods with a smile. She smiles as well.

"That's it then, you're in love."

"And, you're not upset?"

"Why would I be upset that my baby boy has already found a love?" She clicks her tongue.

He looks downcast. "Cause I didn't think boys were supposed to like boys like that."

"Honey, you can't helping liking who you like, and I won't ever give any reason not to. If you love this boy, then you love him. And I support you."

The kids separate over the next couple of months. Felix, Marzia and Frankie head to summer school. Shane, Jamie, Joey and Chris head to different camps. Phil and Lucas leave with Clinton, Martyn and Maria on a college road trip. This leaves Dan, Zack and PJ by themselves. They join a community summer baseball team, though Dan proves to not be very physical when it comes to sports. He doesn't make the team and mostly plays video games against a computer every day.

Soon, everyone is back and they are starting sixth grade. The sixth, seventh and eighth grades are in a separate building still on school grounds. There are many differences. First off, there are minischools within the grades – students are randomly chosen to be in either minischool A or B. Also, there are roughly twelve to fifteen total students in each minischool, as well as five classes each minischool goes to, along with a lunch break for each grade as a whole, and no recess for grades seven and eight.

In 6A, the teachers are Mr. Zan for science, Miss Hunt for history, Mr. Enten for math, Mr. Nave for linguistics and writing, and Miss Ray for rotation. In 6B, the teachers are Mr. Brandon for math, Mr. Hammett for linguistics and writing, Miss Witz for rotation, Mr. Derryberry for history, and Mrs. Millraney for science. Lunch is between their second and third classes, and recess is between their third and fourth classes. All the sixth graders stand off to the side and are called to either join Mr. Zan or Mr. Brandon for first class, including various people the group does not recognize.

Marzia, Felix and Jamie are called to Mr. Zan, and Lucas is the first to be called to Mr. Brandon. Chris is also in 6B, and PJ is in 6A. Two girls named Tiffany and Aisha are also called to 6A, while two boys named Cody and Link are called to 6B. Jarrell, Zoë and Rhett join 6A. Shane and Frankie, along with Brigit and would-be-seventh-grader Anthony are in 6B. Joey, Zack and a girl named Rachel who would rather be called RCL are in 6A. The rest of the students – Lisa, Cat, Dan and Phil – are brought into 6B.

The kids separate and attend to their respective first classes: science for 6A and math for 6B. In 6A, there is a seating arrangement by first name. Aisha and Felix share a double desk at the front of the room. Behind them are Jamie and Jarrell, and Joey and Marzia. Across the room from Aisha and Felix are PJ and RCL. Behind them are Rhett and Tiffany, followed by Zack and Zoë. Mr. Zan dives directly into the first lesson, about mitochondria.

Over in 6B, Mr. Brandon has them in a different seating arrangement: arranged by the amount of letters in their names – the names they go by. Up front is a circle group of Anthony, Frankie and Brigit. By the window is a circle group of Shane, Lucas and Chris. By the whiteboard is a circle group of Phil, Link and Lisa. Last, by the cupboards, is a circle group of Cody, Dan and Cat. He encourages the kids to work in groups to solve the problems to see how far along academically they are.

These seating arrangements are made the same for all classes. Marzia doesn't mind sharing a desk with Joey, but she feels lost in the new building. She stays quiet and opts for the corner whenever possible. Felix, on the other hand, wants to make as many new friends as possible in case he needs someone "to fall back on", as he puts it. In history, he turns to Aisha.

"So, do you read?"

She turns to him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you think I'm doing? Trying to count the years?"

He blushes. "No. I mean like, read? Like, do you like to read?"

"Do I like class? No, I'm not a nerd."

"Yeah, um, you don't look like one."

"Oh, and what do I look like, Mr. Stereotypical?"

"Uh, nothing. I'm sorry."

He returns to his book with a sigh. He has no idea how he will survive this year. Thankfully, lunch soon brings him from despair. There are two lunch lines – today line one has cheese pizza or jelly sandwiches, and line two has cheeseburgers or salads. They are told the lunches change daily. However, Jamie has brought his lunch and his grandpa has packed in about ten extra cosmic brownies. He loudly asks if anyone would like one. Lucas, who has also brought his lunch nabs two.

"Jamie, right?" Jarrell asks as he grabs one and takes a seat at the table.

"Yeah. Um, Jarrell?"

"Yep."

Tiffany and Rhett from his classes also grab one each and take seats. Link, Cody, Cat and Lisa from the other class each grab one and take the remaining seats. Anthony grabs the remaining brownie and thunks Jamie's head. Jamie sits down a little upset that the brownies are gone, when Lucas brandishes the second one.

"Saved you one."

"Thanks." Jamie smiles, taking the treat.

Though Lucas is sat beside Jamie, he feels left out since his friend is busy with the others due to his snack choice.

"You're adorable."

"Huh?" A lightly toned girl sitting across from him lifts Lucas from his solitary pity party. "Adorable?"

She giggles. "You got the cosmic all over your chin. I'm Lisa by the way."

"Lucas. We're in the same class."

Chris is sitting at a nearby table with PJ, Shane, Marzia, Felix, Joey and two other girls: Brigit and Zoë. He is shamelessly flirting with the latter, hoping to have a girlfriend this year. The others catch up, while Brigit keeps to herself, writing in a secret journal of sorts. The remainder of the sixth graders are sitting at a small circle table. Dan and Phil go over the classes they've experienced, hoping to prep the other for later. Aisha picks at her salad, glaring at the "popular table." RCL is painting her nails rather than eat any lunch. Zack and Frankie are likewise going over their classes, the former not willing to find anything out about the people he doesn't know.

Lunch is over far too soon and PJ discovers a hidden talent in variable mathematics. He is having a lot of fun. Joey tries to get mathematically popular as well, but his attitude gets the better of him. He gets frustrated when PJ can easily correct him on whiteboard problems and eventually, Joey just gives up. He slumps over his desk in a huff.

"What an emo." He hears Jarrell cough under his breath.

Joey just wants to sink lower and disappear. In 6B, rotation is in art. Shane is antsy and loudly complains that he does not do art, that he has never been good in art.

"Mr. Dawson," Miss Witz reprimands him. "One more outburst, and you are looking at a detention on your first day."

"Good!" He shouts, knocking over an easel.

True to her word, she assigns him a detention and informs him he will not be having recess today either. This doesn't bother him and he sits inside while the rest of his class joins the other outside. He is left under the eye of the detention overseer: Coach Eleiber. Outside, Zack joins Rhett, Jarrell, Anthony, Link and Cody in a game of warfare. Warfare is a kickball modification for shortness of players, in which the ball must be caught and the kicker must be tackled by the catcher, to be out. Frankie, Dan and Phil are visibly upset by this after he had said just hours ago that he had no intentions of joining any other friend groups.

Frankie decides he should form his own extra friend group due to this. He heads for the monkey bars where Zoë and Brigit are hanging upside down. He climbs up and joins them, relating almost instantly. Lucas is hanging out with Lisa, Marzia is reading under a tree, Jamie is sitting on the bridge banister with Tiffany, Felix and Chris are separately watching the game, Joey is sulking in the tunnel, and PJ is hanging out with RCL, Aisha and Cat by playing HORSE. Left out of their once-tight friend group, Dan and Phil take the unattended swings and hang out with each other.

As they swing, Dan starts moving sideways and purposely crashes into Phil. The boy with the black hair gives out a yelp of surprise falling out of the swing and Dan only laughs as he falls out as well. Phil gets his revenge quickly, tackling Dan to tickle him until Dan screams out that Phil has won. Recess is over much too soon and groups are broken as the kids file into their respective minischools and head to their next classes: Linguistics and Writing for 6A and History for 6B.

Back in their groups, Cody leans in and grabs Dan's shirt. "Hey, dude. You gay?"

"Huh?" This question has surprised him.

"When you were rolling around with that emo freak," Dan winces at Phil being called a freak. "You looked like more than friends. You gay?"

"No." He winces. "He's just my best friend."

"You sure?" He raises an eyebrow.

Cat smacks his arm. "Cut it out, Cody. If he says he's not gay, he's probably not gay."

"Thanks." Dan mutters.

She says something else, but Dan doesn't hear her. He looks away from both his table and Phil, staring at the board instead. He isn't paying attention to the teacher, though. He has something on his mind that has never crossed his mind before. 'Am I gay?' Before last class of the day starts, a strong arm grabs Phil from the hallway and drags him into the bathroom. A couple of older boys leer at him, thrusting him against the wall.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"Relax, kid. I'm Antonius. This here is my brother Vijay."

"Sup, New Meat?"

"Uh, hi. I'm"

"Phil." Antonius interrupts. "We know. What we _want_ to know is, are you gay?"

"Gay?" He repeats. "As in, do I _like_ like boys? No."

Vijay eyes him suspiciously. "Alright, c'mere."

He then drags Phil into the handicapped stall. Antonius follows and locks the door. There is so much smoke in said stall, Phil's eyes water. There is a fan on the wall where most of the smoke is filtering out, but it is definitely still there. Another older boy is slouching over the barely visible toilet, holding a joint. Phil's eyes widen and he attempts to make a break for the door. Unfortunately, Antonius is taller and stronger. He shoves Phil against the wall, his lower back hitting one of the handicap bars. When Phil cries out in pain, Antonius jams a joint in Phil's mouth, clamping it shut and plugging the younger boy's nose with one hand.

Phil inevitably is forced to breathe via the joint. He nearly collapses, inhaling the smoke. Antonius holds him in place as he ingests another two large puffs. The older boy finally lets go with a harsh laugh and Phil falls to the floor. His legs are weak and his back is in pain. He is unable to move. When the bullies leave, the other boy finally speaks up.

"I'm Melvin."

"Why are you here?" Phil coughs. "You look like their age."

"I am." He wheezes. "They found out that I'm gay and they brought me in here during lunch."

"You've been here since then?"

"Yeah." He coughs again. "You a sixth grader?"

"Yeah."

"Welcome to junior hell."

A couple months pass, and things remain like this. Zack has jock status and Shane rarely gains a recess due to his attitude. Chris is now dating Zoë, and Lucas is dating Lisa. Dan plays on the playground with Phil, but oftentimes his mind is elsewhere or he'll want to awkwardly join in with RCL and Cat. PJ and Aisha are usually off somewhere. Phil is bullied regularly, but he never speaks up about it.

In November, the kids are given group assignments on what they would bring with them to a deserted island if they could only have one thing. In 6A, Felix lets Aisha talk and Jamie would take moisturizer. Joey and Marzia argue over flash grenades or a really good book series. RCL agrees with PJ's choice of a multi-tool Swiss army knife. Rhett says he'd bring his friend Link, causing Tiffany to yell at him for wasting space. While Zoë agrees with Zack's choice of ice cream, she reprimands him about having nowhere to put it – to which he replies they would bury it.

In 6B, Anthony, Brigit and Frankie can easily agree on a battery-powered mini refrigerator on wheels. Shane, Lucas and Chris – on the other hand – all have different ideas. Chris would take an airplane, and Lucas would take a cell phone. Shane cuts them down because Chris didn't mention a pilot and there would be no cell service on a deserted island. He would take Disneyland. Phil demands to his group that they need a yacht. Dan and Cat agree on a boat full of food – Cody is asleep.

In December, before vacation, the junior high division counselors come around. As a breaking ground, they are to ask the students, "What are you afraid of that other people might think is silly?"

This question often gains quite a few strange responses, the most common one being vacuum cleaners. When it comes to the sixth graders, there are some extra interesting answers. Rhett, Tiffany, Link, Lisa, RCL, Zoë and Aisha share the common vacuum phobia, Brigit changing it slightly by saying the pool cleaner vacuum. Marzia is scared of oatmeal simply because it looks like someone threw up in the bowl. Other strange responses include Zack's phobia of red ant, Frankie's phobia of rusty pennies, Joey's phobia of the color neon orange and Felix's phobia of high school dictionaries.

Jamie is scared of being in the kitchen while the dishwasher is loading for the same reason Cat is scared to be in the utilities room while the washing machine is running. Phil is afraid to keep a diary, Dan is scared of Spongebob Squarepants, and Shane has a fear of tall people. Jarrell and Chris are scared of fictional candies and flavors of ice cream. Lucas and Cody have deep-rooted fears of certain baked forms of vegetables. Anthony gets smart and says 'your face', whereas PJ is actually afraid of the pencil sharpeners on the wall, because they might accidentally grind his clothes, hair or fingers.

Over the break, the kids are going on a road trip. Martyn insists on it, able to drive the Lester family van. They don't really go anywhere, just driving wherever, for a week before the holidays. Despite not really being close friends at the time, the word reaches out to all twelve members. Frankie decides to sit up front and choose the music. In the first middle row sits Lucas, Felix and Marzia. The former two almost immediately fall asleep, whereas the latter spends most of the time on the road, reading.

In the second middle row sits Jamie, Zack, Shane and Chris. The first two are playing roadtrip games, Shane complains, and Chris is reading. In back sits Joey, PJ, Dan and Phil. Joey and PJ are enjoying the games with the others. Dan and Phil crawl under the back seats, to sit in the trunk area. They need to talk.

"What is with you?"

"Me?" Phil is offended. "You keep wanting to bring RCL or Cat into our games. Or you want to go play with them."

"You keep ditching science class." Dan hisses. "And then you don't even get on the bus home. But if you do come to class or get on the bus, you smell like air freshener. Like you took a bath in it."

"So what?" Phil huffs. "That proves nothing. Why don't you wanna hang out with me anymore?"

"You stopped hanging out with me first." Dan accuses.

"What?" Phil hisses back, quieter this time. "You think I _want_ to keep going to the big stall instead of class? Have you even _met_ me?"

"Big stall?"

"Forget it." Phil starts crawling back under the seat.

"Phil, what do you mean?" Dan's voice is quieter now, with concern.

Phil hesitates. He wants to tell someone, but he also wants to wait until the bullies graduate, so they can't come after anyone.

"Just forget it." He answers. "Please?"

Dan bites his lip. He really wants to know what is wrong with Phil, but since his friend has basically asked him to trust him, which is what he wants to do.

"Okay." Dan nods, crawling back. "For now."

When break is over, the kids are once again confronted by the counselors. This time, they want to know something that could be good and could be bad. They ask, "What is one thing you don't think your life would be the same without?"

Several students – Rhett, Tiffany, Link, Lisa, RCL, Zoë, Anthony and Jarrell – act smart and say 'air'. Marzia says books, and Felix picks a similar answer: writing. Jamie says 'cats' and Phil says 'dogs'. Dan chooses science fiction, Shane has a wider approach with TV shows, and Cat has an intelligent answer with satellites. Lucas says fresh flowers and Brigit goes into a long spiel about shopping malls. Aisha says cheerleading, PJ says fairy lights, and Chris picks art class. Cody and Frankie say the same thing with photography, and Joey picks fashion. Without putting much thought before his words, Zack says 'kissing Frankie'.

He shuts his mouth after saying it and runs out before the counselor has another thing to say. He bogards his minischool and heads straight into 6B, in the middle of the history lesson. He has had some time to think about this, and he runs in. He grabs Frankie's arm, yelling to the teacher that he needs to 'see the tattoo dragon now' – being the first thing thought of. He drags Frankie into an abandoned seventh grade rotation classroom. Before Frankie can even ask what is happening, Zack closes the door, leans Frankie against it and kisses him.

"Zack?" He gasps.

"I'm sorry." He pulls away. "I just had to do it. I just, it's weird but I, I just"

"Do you wanna go on a date after graduation?"

"And I, a date?"

Frankie smiles. "We can go to the mall, and the amusement park that's opening up. If you want, we can all go and no one has to know it's a date."

"Okay." Zack smiles then. "Sounds like a plan."

Frankie leans up and kisses Zack again. "Sounds like a date."

A few months later, it is May. They are about to have a little graduation ceremony to celebrate moving from sixth to seventh grade. Though they will still be in the same school, they will be losing recess, and adding another class and lockers. Dan and Phil are on better terms and Zack and Frankie are closer. Zack is still a jock and Phil is still getting bullied, but on both instances, it is less frequent. Lucas is no longer dating Lisa, after spotting her kissing Rhett. Aisha and Tiffany are in a constant feud, as well as Marzia's silent anger toward Brigit – who goes on and on about shopping, only to stop to insult someone about almost anything. The sixth graders are on their way to graduate when Brigit pulls Marzia aside.

"This is so cool, am I right?"

"Yeah, it's" She starts.

"I mean, we're essentially moving up and, ew. Nerd alert!" She nudges Marzia, gesturing toward Felix. "Who brings a book to graduation?"

"Enough!" Marzia growls, stepping up to Brigit. "I hope Satan burns you in hell."

Brigit frowns as Marzia storms off, but she recovers quickly and moves on to annoy Zoë. The sixth graders are randomly split in half by two board of education advisors, asking everyone the same question: "Where do you see yourself in ten years?"

One advisor has the full group. PJ says he will be in a church getting married. Frankie thinks he'll be getting married too, while Zack says he'll be traveling the world. Dan expects to have a girlfriend, though he repeats the word 'boyfriend' in his head as he says it. Jamie expects to be making his own family. Felix plans to be head of his own company, and Chris and Joey plan on being ninjas/ninja assassins. Lucas simply says college and Shane causes the woman to step back after saying he'll be a gravedigger. She looks over at the remaining two.

"What about you?"

"I'm gonna be a shrink like my Aunt Maggie." Marzia declares proudly.

"A shrink at age twenty-two. Okay." She jots it down. "And you, Mr. Lester?"

"Easy. I'm gonna be watching anime and living in Japan! That's where I wanna go to college, you know."

"Fascinating."

An hour before graduating, the eighth graders are having their ceremony and the twelve group is enjoying some last minutes on the playground. Despite being dressed aside from the cap, Zack jumps in the puddles and Phil is eating an ice cream cone. Marzia tries some of the sand, just to say she's ate some, and Lucas gets into a fight with Shane over Lisa's intentions. It is a sore subject for Lucas, but it was mentioned and Dan is dragged into the fight. It ends abruptly though, when Phil smushes his ice cream into Lucas's face. He starts laughing and the fight is forgotten.

Joey gives Phil a friendly kiss on the cheek for stopping the fight before it goes out of hand. Catching this fleeting moment, Dan begins to speculate whether any of his friends are gay. He's still not sure if he is. Jamie wishes he could just leave school and not come back, but Frankie talks him out of the craziness. PJ has been acting as lookout and calls for his friends when he spies the principal. It is time for them to be in the auditorium. In the commotion, Felix falls off the swing and Chris falls off the slide. They laugh it off and dust off one another. They grab their caps off the table and take their seats for graduation.

A week after graduation, Frankie and Zack are on their date. When Dan seems to only think about how Phil looks as he sleeps while Martyn drives them to the amusement park, he comes to the realization that not only is he gay, but he may possibly be in love with his best friend. He decides not to say anything, however, and just enjoy being close friends again. When they arrive, and after Martyn has paid for admission, the gang splits up – promising to meet their ride at the front gate for check-in after three hours.

Shane and Felix immediately take lead toward the biggest coasters. Chris and Phil are the most excited, followed by Lucas, Joey and Dan. Frankie and Zack peel away and go have fun on the Ferris Wheel. Jamie and Peej would rather not touch the bigger ones, while Marzia complains about the lack of safety features. Shane and Felix soon ditch the rides to have a race through the mazes. Jamie and Lucas head for the food and game booths set up, while Marzia, Joey, PJ and Chris have fun on the weird rides. Zack and Dan pick the scariest rides for the same reason – Frankie and Phil to hold. Frankie and Zack are keeping their date a secret and Dan is keeping his crush a secret from even Phil.

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 **.**

 **Alright! Wow. That was SO much longer than I had anticipated.**

 **OC List:**

 **Fifth Grade**

 **Miss Morgan (teacher 1)**

 **Dr. Hugle (teacher 2)**

 **Clinton Crew (Jamie's older brother)**

 **Timmy Crew (Jamie's younger brother)**

 **Ms. Cair (audio visual teacher)**

 **Sixth Grade**

 **6A teachers**

 **6B teachers**

 **Aisha (bitchy classmate)**

 **Jarrell (classic jerk jock)**

 **Tiffany (bitchy classmate)**

 **Brigit (irritating classmate)**

 **Cody (clueless classmate)**

 **Lisa (flirty classmate)**

 **Coach Eleiber (detention instructor)**

 **Melvin (8** **th** **grader bully victim)**

 **I hope you liked it! I loved writing it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, everyone! Thanks for sticking by me so long. I hope everyone is caught up. I can see now why putting grades five and six together might've been a bad call. Confusion. Nonetheless, this chapter solely focuses on seventh grade. This'll be a plenty long chapter. Seventh grade was personally my worst year in school. So many bad things happened. I was teased for the way I talked; bullied for my reading speed and my inability to match my clothes, among other things. I am so thankful to be out of that. Thank you to my recent reviewers. AmzingCat303, I'm glad you're enjoying it. Imdefinitelynotaserialkiller, I'm happy that you're on the anti-bully team. Everyone please read and enjoy! Okay, well I have carried on long enough. It is time for these people to have their time in the seventh grade limelight. I only own what I owned previously and any new characters, I will list at the bottom. Oh, and at the end of story-wise March, it gets pretty crazy offensive to several nationalities. I don't think this way – just read and you'll see what I'm talking about. Again, read and enjoy.**

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At the end of summer, Martyn moves out to start his freshman year on campus. Phil's family style changes drastically. While his mum continues to needle her way in his life, his dad becomes estranged. He walks out to the bus stop to join Chris. The bus first picks up Marzia, Felix, PJ and Joey. After Phil and Chris (and supposed to Shane), it goes to Zack, Frankie and Dan's stop; and then Jamie and Lucas – among the other kids, of course. Chris is playing with a yo-yo.

"Do you yo the yo?"

"Yo the yo?" Phil questions him.

"Can you walk the dog? Or go around the world? Or any of that stuff?"

"Uh, no. Why'd you start up with that anyway?"

Chris shrugs. "New year, new slate."

The two stand silently, not really bothering to talk to one another since it is so early and the first day. When the bus pulls up, there are only five others. Chris heads to a middle seat to join Marzia, to talk about yo-yos. Phil heads to the back and puts his headphones in. Joey isn't on the bus for some reason. Felix is sat up front, eating a Pop Tart and talking with the new bus driver. PJ is in front of Phil, listening to his own music and reading the last few chapters of their reading list book. RCL is behind Chris and Marzia, painting her nails; Tiffany is on her cell phone, talking with someone. She is seated somewhere in the middle near Chris and Marzia.

It takes a while, but soon the bus stops again. Zack, Frankie, Dan, Joey, Jarrell and eighth grader Tyler hop on. Tyler and Jarrell are shoving one another and take a seat in front of Tiffany. Joey looks exhausted and slumps over the seat behind the hot seat (a seat in direct view of the driver for misbehaving students). Frankie also looks exhausted. He manages a few steps, to stop in front of Chris's seat and rest his head against the window. Zack thumps his hands across the seats and takes one in the back by PJ. Dan immediately moves to the back and plops down, startling Phil.

At the next stop, Lisa, Aisha, and eighth graders Troye, Connor and Ian step on. Lisa joins RCL, who absentmindedly hands her a bottle of nail shine. Aisha takes a seat up front and Troye moves down behind Tiffany. Ian and Connor each take a side, smacking the bus-goers upside their foreheads as they make it to the back. They force PJ, Dan and Phil out of their seats and up two rows. At the following and final stop, Jamie, Lucas, Shane, a new sixth grader named JP, and another new sixth grader named Jeff step on.

Jeff is wearing all black and his hair is in his eyes. He stalks to the farthest open seat, paying no mind to Connor and Ian's teasing. JP is wearing all pastel colors and a flower crown. He sits behind Joey, attempting to motivate him into conversation. Shane slumps over Joey, also extremely tired. The two had missed their stops and were forced to maneuver shortcuts to other stops. Jamie boards with his cell phone blasted at full volume. While Lucas takes a seat behind Felix to go over his pre-mailed syllabus, Jamie continues to play his music and sits by Dan and Phil. As the bus pulls away toward the school, the previous song ends and 'Sugar We're Going Down' begins to play.

There is another eighth grader of interest to the seventh graders this year: a self-claimed tragedy psychic named Fawn. She says to be able to take a strand of hair, read your palm and tell how and when you will die. Needless to say, everyone is checking this out at lunchtime. Tiffany is said to die in a car wreck on the way to cheerleading practice the week before junior prom – the same wreck that Jarrell is said to die in when taking his dog to the clinic. The dog is unharmed. Joey thinks it is nothing and stupid, so he decides to prove it by seeing her.

"Ow, do you have to take my hair?"

With her eyes shut, she holds up a clear cup. "Urinal sample?"

Joey makes a disgusted squeak and Fawn places the cup back. She smells the strand, finally reaches for Joey's hand, and opens her eyes. They are unfocused; she is blind. Still, she runs the strand through the ridges of Joey's hand.

"You will expire soon. You will be electrocuted in your tenth grade science experiment."

"Uh-huh. And, uh, what'll I make?"

"A lemon battery clock."

Joey bites his lip. Nicole made a lemon battery clock for her sophomore science experiment and Joey had been planning on making the same thing. When he gets back to the twelve at the table they've scored, he sighs and tells them what's happened. Jamie thinks it is just coincidence and he takes Joey's spot. Fawn takes his hair and speaks his name no sooner than he said his greeting. She does the same technique.

"You will starve to death while concentrating on your senior project. Throughout high school, you won't work as hard, but you need this assignment to graduate. You push yourself too hard, forget to eat and you will perish."

Alarmed by the details, Jamie feels a little sick. He reels away and uncomfortably joins the others. There isn't a lot of time left of the lunch break, so Frankie and Zack walk over together. They hand off the strands of their hair and hold out their hands. Fawn smiles as she reads into their palms.

"Intertwined destiny. Sign of lovers," Both glance toward each other and blush. "Since before and continuing on. Frankie will die first, due to cranial combustion. He will have too much on his mind – from prom to schoolwork and graduation. Now he must deal with losing his close friend and his mind will not take it. Distraught over losing his boyfriend, Zack becomes delusional. He belies in a higher power commanding that he sacrifice himself to save others by leaping off the new interstate pass and into traffic." The boys wrench their hands away and the bell rings. "Have fun in rotation and languages, boys."

The group is packing up. They are directly divided this year. Half of them – Zack, Shane, PJ, Phil, Marzia and Lucas – are in 7A; the other half are in 7B. Rotation for the day is library, so 7A is split into reading groups. The Cheetahs are the students who read a lot and read fast, retaining nearly everything. The Antelopes are the students who take their time and are at the acceptable reading level. The Kangaroos are the students who are able to read but would rather spend their time elsewhere. The Elephants are the students who have trouble with reading. Together, the groups form CAKE.

Marzia and Zoë are the solo Cheetahs of 7A. Shane, PJ, Phil, Lucas, RCL and Link are all Antelopes. Zack, Tiffany and Lisa are 7A's Kangaroos, while Rhett is the minischool's only Elephant. He pretends it is all a joke, but he is actually dyslexic and doesn't want his classmates to find out. Languages is the bonus class for seventh and eighth graders since 'linguistics and writing' has dropped the 'writing' in its title and there is no more recess. The current language is Spanish.

This continues on for a full week. Though it scares them slightly, all the seventh graders are curious to learn of their oddly specific demise. Shane is said to attempt to stop a fight in the bar on his 21st birthday, but end up getting stabbed. He had begun to laugh about being in a bar, but Fawn had told him that a friend will drag him there, and he will bleed out before he makes it to the hospital. Felix is said to be stressed because of college and the death of his roommate, implying he might be the friend who brings Shane. He will draw a bath and cry. Exhausted, he will fall asleep and drown. Felix is worried because he believes that is something he would actually do.

Marzia is told she will be racing to get to school on time and instantly die in a head-on collision days before her twenty-third birthday. Chris and PJ are told to be twenty-four when they die. Fawn says Chris, PJ, Phil, Lucas and Dan will graduate college as best friends. The day after graduation will be Chris and PJ's wedding. At Chris's rehearsal dinner, he will sneak into the kitchen for a taste test. With no one being around, he will choke to death. The day after, Phil will kill PJ in an act of revenge, blaming him for Chris's death. All three boys feel uneasy hearing this.

They then discover Dan and Phil's deaths. According to Fawn, when they are twenty-five, Dan will accept a promotion that is too big for him to handle and will die mid-process of said task. The week after, Phil will be cooling off and will die in a freak skydiving accident. As for Lucas, Fawn reads that he will die from contracting too many sexually transmitted diseases at age twenty-six, due to his last steady relationship abruptly ending via death nine years prior. The seventh graders are on edge from this girl's abilities.

Near the end of November, a new arcade is opening up near the school. Brigit has been hanging on and all around Felix for a month, always chatting him up and trying to find out where he lives. He puts up with it because he isn't very much of a forward person. He gives her short, quipped answers, hoping she'll take the message and leave him alone, but it never works out. She is too oblivious. It isn't until she starts badmouthing a few people who happen to be his friends that he turns to her by the buses and screams.

"STOP TALKING TO ME, YOU PSYCHO!"

Her eyes go wide and a lot of people have heard him. Heads are looking out from the three buses in the yard. Felix sighs exasperatedly and then attempts to reel his words back in, but she frowns and runs away. Part of him wants to go after him, but he is mostly happy she's gotten the message clear. He boards the bus. The Thursday before the new arcade opens, Jamie is home alone and calls Lucas over. They live across the street from one another, so they are the closest – living wise. The twelve-year-olds attempt to make cookies, but they nearly burn the house down. They probably would have too, if not for JP pedaling down the street at that moment. Instead of a fire, the kitchen had turned into a flood, but thankfully the three boys are able to fix it.

After a small argument between Frankie, Marzia and Chris, the dozen ultimately decide to hide from the patrolling truant officer and ditch school to check out the new arcade on Friday. It opens at eleven, just thirty minutes prior to a slew of high schoolers getting time off for lunch. Within ten minutes, Jamie is playing a basketball game, attempting to flirt with several other people crowding in. Marzia and Joey are eating a slice of pizza each, arguing over how the other is cheating at the alien game.

"Phil, come over here." Marzia pouts. "Joey's cheating."

"What do you mean 'he's cheating'? You can't cheat at this game." Phil whines, walking over to play peacekeeper.

Felix takes over from Joey and Chris takes over from Marzia as the three walk away from the game. Joey thanks Phil, but Marzia shoves Joey and demands Phil take her side. Zack and Frankie are playing skee-ball against Shane and Dan. PJ and Lucas join a first-person shooter game against two older boys. Marzia and Joey quickly get into a slapping fight with Phil yelling over them.

Frankie and PJ find the fight amusing, dropping their games to enjoy it. Jamie leaves the basketballs behind to pick up the controller PJ drops. Lucas is suddenly finding it very hard to concentrate during the game with Jamie alongside his side. They are playing against the older boys; he has to remind himself while imagining kissing his best friend. Felix loses to Chris and the latter begins to gloat. It frustrates Felix so he kicks the machine and storms off to the bathroom.

Dan has quit skeeballing as well, watching the fight blow up between Marzia and Joey. Lucas closes his eyes and their team loses. Jamie alerts him by yelling about how close they were and why he had his eyes shut. The two of them start spitting out crude remarks and the older boys try to chill them out. Chris runs to the bathroom after looking at their group falling apart. He doesn't want to lose Felix too.

"Damn," Frankie comments, looking back at Zack who is still holding a skeeball in each hand. "Marzia's got bigger balls than the ones in your hands."

PJ stifles a snort and Zack blushes, dropping them. When Frankie has to make another rude comment on this, Shane removes one of his shoes and throws it at Frankie. It startles the blonde boy enough for him to yelp and crash into PJ. Both are sent to the floor, with PJ yelling at Frankie and Frankie yelling at Shane. Dan covers his ears and drops to the floor, as if it is a way out. Felix runs out of the bathroom and back to the chaos, with Chris shouting after him. Phil has finally had enough. He slaps Marzia and Joey.

"Enough! Damn! Don't any of you see what this is coming to? Felix, quit being a sore loser. Chris, quit being a sore winner. Shane, quit throwing things. Frankie, quit insulting your friends. Just quit fighting. I can't believe you guys are breaking up our friendship over some lousy games that weren't even here six hours ago. That's pathetic. I like gaming like you all, but if this is the way you're going to act, don't bring me into it. I want no part of it. I'm leaving."

Everyone is shocked at Phil's outburst. For a second, no one moves. He turns to leave and Dan runs after him. The two older boys Jamie and Lucas had been playing against run after them, and the others are heard sighing and apologizing.

"Hey, dude. That was real cool."

Phil sighs. "I hate fighting. Especially when we're all supposed to be close friends."

"I get that, man. I'm Mark. This is Sean."

"What's up?"

Phil smiles slightly. "I'm Phil and this is Dan."

Dan waves quietly and quickly. Mark places a hand on Phil's shoulder.

"Seriously, man. Where do you go to school?"

"Riverstone Grammar School."

"Grammar School?" Sean laughs. "How the hell old are you?"

Phil blushes. "Twelve."

Sean and Mark look at each other in disbelief. Finally Mark sighs.

"Well, shit man. We thought you were freshmen or something."

"That's what you get for thinking and not asking." Phil turns away, hoping the guys will leave him and Dan alone.

It seems to have worked. Phil doesn't really have a good record of trusting people. The only person he feels like he can trust well enough is his brother. Martyn is attending college now, but he comes home on weekends since college is only about two miles outside of town. The house is like family again when he comes back for two and a half days, rather than on the weekdays when everything seems to move quieter and slower.

A few weeks later, the school is having a Secret Santa project. Both minischools' students are combined for each grade level, forcing everyone a little outside their comfort zones. However, everyone in the dozen are secretly excited with their chosen names. Dan starts spending a lot of time hanging out in the library and, when he can, perusing through his classmates' lockers. In fact, everyone from the dozen seem to be spending more time with one another. They notice the other seventh graders are spending a great deal of time with each other as well.

There are three days just before the winter vacation begins. Day one is for the sixth graders. The seventh graders watch as most of them seem happy for what they've got – aside from Jeff. He got a black scarf from a girl called Laura May – and then proceeded to attempt to strangle her with it. Day two is for the seventh graders. The seventh grade administrator, Ms. Diamant, has everyone's first names ready and calls them out in alphabetical order. The one called stands in the middle by the tree, while his or her Secret Santa gives a gift and it is revealed.

"Aisha."

Link walks up and hands her a box. She hastily accepts it and rips it open. Inside is a book entitled 'Aisha'.

"What the hell is this?"

"Uh, it's about a wealthy woman who decides to play"

"A book? You're my Secret Santa, little dweeb? And you got me a book? This is so pathetic."

She storms to the side, waiting for her receiver to be called so she can leave. Ms. Diamant widens her eyes with a sigh and calls out the next name.

"Anthony."

Lisa struts up to him and hands him a small tube. He take sit and reads it aloud.

"Cherry Bomb Lip Balm? You got me lip junk?"

"No." She responds, taking it back and applying it to her own lips. "I got it for me."

"Then what did you?"

"This is what I got for you."

With this, she grabs a fistful of his shirt and pulls him close. They kiss for a good long minute or three. The seventh graders are wide-eyed and Anthony is breathless. He walks back to the crowd and Lisa is giggling.

"That was hot."

"Brigit."

Cody trips over his feet before handing her a small unwrapped brown box. She accepts it with a toothy smile and is surprised to see toilet paper inside in lieu of wrapping paper. She almost drops the box when she sees what is at the bottom of it.

"Um, what is this?"

"It's pretty tasty, right?"

"Tasty? It's brown and wrapped in toilet paper."

A few seventh graders start laughing, and a few others make disgusted noises. Ms. Diamant steps up. "Cody, what did you give Brigit?"

"These wicked Vegan brownies, yo. Try one."

Brigit hesitantly reaches in and breaks off a tiny bite. She hands the box to the administrator and holds her nose as she takes a bite.

"You like?"

"It's crunchy." She answers, swallowing a bit. "What is it?"

"La cucarachas, man."

She gags. "You mean to tell me I just ate chocolate-covered,"

"Cockroaches, yeah."

She throws up. Cody has no idea why and asks her if she's going to finish them later.

"Keep it!" She yells, racing out of the gymnasium. "Your present's on the bottom bleacher, Cat!"

"That was awesome." Frankie comments.

"Alright, Cat. You're up next."

Ms. Diamant doesn't want this to last forever. She hands the girl her gift bag. Inside is cat-shaped stationary with her name on it. She smiles and thanks her, knowing she has Brigit to thank as well. The janitor shows up but he doesn't discourage the students. They continue with their gift giving.

"Chris."

Zack steps up, handing off a box.

"It isn't any bugs." He mutters in a low voice.

Chris chuckles and unwraps. Inside is a Superman snowglobe with the bat signal inside.

"Whoa, this is so cool! Where'd you get this?"

"You know," He shrugs. "Places."

Chris and Zack join different areas of the crowd. Frankie leans in toward Zack. "You're welcome, by the way."

"Cody."

RCL walks up and easily hands him a Coca Cola can from her bag.

"Dude, you got me a coke?" He grins. "That's like, the fifth best one out there."

She then proceeds to hand him a Pepsi, a Dr. Pepper and Sprite. When he opens his mouth to let her know she forgot the most important one, she reaches into her bag and pulls out an RC. He gives her a large smile and a big hug to go with it. They move back to the crowd.

"Dan."

He nervously walks up but is instantly relieved to see who was chosen as his Secret Santa. Phil hands him a small box. Dan smiles and opens it, gingerly pulling out two framed pictures. The first is from second grade. It is a picture of the whole dozen with paint all over them, standing in front of their newly constructed clubhouse. The second picture is from back in kindergarten. This one is solely of Dan and Phil. Phil has chalk in his hair and Dan has paint dripping from his. They are laughing and hugging one another. It was taken by Martyn at a sleepover.

"Thank you, Phil. Really. Thank you."

Phil beams – until he hears Jarrell shout.

"What'd the fruit give you, freak?"

Phil's smile is gone instantly and he tugs for the pictures.

"You don't have to say that. I know it was a stupid gift."

"Phil, stop. I like it. I said I did."

"You were being nice." He snaps slightly, still tugging on the pictures.

Dan drops the box, tugging the pictures back. "No, I wasn't. I like the present. I like the pictures."

"Ooh, did your loverboy give you naughty pictures, bitch?" Ian taunts.

"Just forget about it, Dan." Phil yanks on them.

Dan pulls too and the pictures fall out of both their grasps. The frames break and Phil stares at them. Connor has joined in on the teasing with a few other eighth graders, plus Jarrell, Tiffany and Anthony. Tears threaten Phil's eyes and he runs out of the gym. Dan follows him. Secret Santa is put on hold as the administrator has to call in the school's student resource officer to hold the kids in line. Frankie and Joey stand up for their friends, and a battle of sorts falls into the gym. Dan finds Phil crying at the bathroom sinks. He cautiously walks over to him.

"Why'd you follow me?"

"Because you're my friend. Does this, does this have something to do with last year? When we had that fight?"

Phil nods, lowering to the floor. Dan slides down the wall next to him, waiting but not pressuring. Phil turns to him and sighs.

"What I'm about to tell you stays with us, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"I'm serious."

"Me too."

"I was getting bullied by some eighth graders last year. I'm weak, I'm pale, especially compared to my ridiculously dark hair, and they heard a rumor that I was gay. So, they'd take me to the bathroom and force me to take some drugs. Sometimes they'd shove me or beat on me a little. Through my clothes. That's why I was acting so distant. I haven't even told Martyn this, Dan. And I tell him everything."

Dan doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't say anything. Instead, he scoots a little closer and pulls Phil into a friendly, reassuring hug. They eventually get cleaned up and return to the gymnasium. Things have cleared up and the present giving has already commenced. Chris gave Felix a Build-a-Bear, Marzia gave Frankie a hot pink bathrobe, Frankie gave Jamie a comfy hoodie, Aisha gave Jarrell a foam football in Christmas colors, Shane gave Joey a retro walkman, and Anthony gave Link a Weird But True Factoids book. Dan and Phil take their spots in the crowd as Ms. Diamant calls out another name.

"Lisa."

Anthony, Link, Aisha and Cody have already left to due have given and gotten their presents. Rhett walks up and hands her a manicure kit. She quickly thanks him with a kiss on his cheek and they rejoin the crowd.

"Lucas."

Dan squeezes Phil's shoulder and move up to hand Lucas a small box. Lucas unwraps it excitedly to find the next book in the Maze Runner series. Lucas is ecstatic. The boys return to the crowd. Lucas shows Jamie and Phil nudges Dan.

"Marzia."

Lucas returns to the center to hand over a barely-concealing gift. It is a box of chocolates. Marzia kisses his cheek and they join the others.

"Phil."

He stands frozen for a moment, but Dan assumingly squeezes his shoulder again and Phil relaxes a bit. PJ nudges Phil as well and the latter relaxes, realizing he is the Secret Santa. He hands over a bag that Phil digs through. It is a lion hat. Phil immediately places it on his head and gives PJ a hug before rejoining Dan.

"PJ."

He almost laughs, walking out there again. He then bites his lip. Lisa is gone now too. The only people left are his group – half of which have already been called – and five other seventh graders. Cat, Zoë and RCL don't bother him. Rhett is even okay at times. Tiffany is a bitch, though, and Jarrell is a glorified bully. They scare him a little. Then, Felix walks out, handing him a small flat gift. PJ rips through it to reveal a CD.

"The Black Parade?" He grins. "MCR. So cool."

"RCL."

Zoë steps up and hands her a gift set of nail polish. RCL gives her a quick thanks, opening the plastic and dropping the polish in her bag.

"Rhett."

Jarrell hands him an unwrapped gift in a brown paper bag. Rhett takes it warily and empties it. A video game. Halo.

"Impressive. Thanks, man."

Jarrell grunts and walks out of them gym. Rhett follows.

"Shane."

Jamie steps up and hands him a poorly wrapped bottle. Cologne. Shane thanks him and nods to his group before walking out. Jamie, Lucas, Marzia, Felix, PJ and Chris follow him. The eighth graders leave as well, not really caring about the others.

"Tiffany."

Cat walks up and hands her an envelope. Inside is a gift card for the local mall. Tiffany rolls her eyes but says nothing and pockets it in her wallet. Cat walks away then, leaving only RCL, Zoë, Tiffany, Dan, Phil, Frankie, Zack and Joey with the administrator.

"Zack."

Joey hands him an unwrapped collage of all their faces. Zack smirks at the images, laughing as he recalls what caused a few of the faces. He and Joey walk out of the gym with Frankie at their heels. Dan and Phil stay behind, but off to the sides.

"Zoë."

Tiffany groans a bit, handing Zoë a free pass to a local spa. The former informs the latter of the perfect facial scrub before leaving. Ms. Diamant tells everyone still remaining to have a great vacation. Zoë and RCL lock arms to walk out. Dan and Phil walk out as well; with the latter exceedingly glad to have the former as such a great friend.

A couple weeks later, Phil and Frankie are heading out to skate at the newly opened ice rink and call the rest of the gang. After listening to some pretty pathetic excuses, the other ten are pretty much dragged over. It is learned none of them really know how to skate, so Phil and Frankie make it their mission to attempt to teach their fellow tweens.

They start in groups of three. Phil takes Dan and Chris; Frankie takes Zack and PJ. Marzia is with Joey and Shane; Felix is with Jamie and Lucas. Almost immediately, Marzia falls on her butt, causing Joey and Shane to be pulled down as well. Joey and Marzia help each other stand up, while Shane loses himself in the crowd, in an attempt to hide away from his friends. When Lucas falls, Felix manages to keep his cool, but Jamie also falls. Unfortunately, no one has taught Felix how to stop and he crashes into a wall. Jamie and Lucas leave the rink, joining Shane at the bar for some hot chocolate.

It becomes evident that PJ has his shoes tied on the wrong feet. Frankie glides, waiting for PJ to return, and Zack keeps trying. Chris accidentally flings himself to the center and knocks over a kid. When the kid shouts some mean names at him, he starts flying off the handle. Dan is left with Zack as Phil and Frankie speed of to keep Chris away from the kid. Chris shrugs them off and heads to the arcade area.

"He's a great skater." Dan comments.

"Yeah," Zack agrees. "Frankie can glide like"

"Wait, Frankie? I was talking about Phil."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess Frankie taught him."

"You mean Phil taught Frankie."

Just before Zack and Dan can get into a war, Phil and Frankie slide up beside the boys.

"You guys okay?" Phil sounds worried.

"Actually, can we just get out of here?" Dan asks apprehensively.

"Yeah, sure." Phil answers consolingly. "Frankie?"

"On it."

Frankie rounds up those on the ice, while Phil searches around for those not on skates. Soon, there are eleven of them back in their regular clothes with gloves and scarves (aside from Dan, who doesn't like things touching his neck). Phil decides to venture back inside to find the only girl in their group. When does find her, she looks to be in a blissful state, leaning up against the change machine.

"Found a boyfriend?" Phil smirks.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough. So, what's his name?"

She sighs with a smile. "His name is Kennedy. He's a freshman at Riverstone High."

"Very nice. Well, come on. We're leaving."

She sighs again but follows him out the door. Weeks pass throughout the break. Jamie goes on a fun vacation again. Martyn comes home for the holidays, and the Cruikshanks' house is incredibly busy. Families are loud and large. Much too soon, the fun times end and school is back in session. After school on the first week, Marzia decides to go and surprise her boyfriend. The high school isn't too much of a distance from the grammar school and is just past the neighborhood where she lives.

PJ and Joey decide to walk with her, while the rest of the gang takes the bus to their respective homes. Grammar school gets out twenty minutes earlier than the high school, so she has just enough time before the bus arrives to take him away from her. Sure enough, they arrive to the school with about five minutes to spare. Joey points Kennedy out. He is wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, seeming just changed out of his gym clothes. A girl jogging by winds back and stops beside him. She wraps her arms around him.

"I don't like the look of this." Marzia comments.

"Maybe she just has something in her shoe?" Joey suggests awkwardly.

"I don't think so." She sighs.

Kennedy then wraps his arms around her waist and lifts her up. She instinctively wraps her legs around his waist and they kiss. Joey makes a comment about getting back at him, when they barely recognize PJ's shout of 'that bastard!' Turning around, they are too late. PJ is already running up to the two, so Marzia and Joey run back as well. The girl has barely climbed off the boy before PJ's fist connects with his face.

"What the hell? Who are you?"

"A friend." He answers, hitting him again.

"Some friend." Kennedy punches PJ in the gut.

The fight is about to grow into something more when Joey jumps in to stop it. Marzia is behind them, sprinkling itching powder into his gym bag. She pops up when it looks like Kennedy is going to punch Joey. She slaps him across the face and turns to the girl.

"If I were you, I'd make sure he doesn't have any other girlfriends at any other schools." She turns back and slaps him again. "And by the way, we're through."

The following month, Lucas and Felix are left home alone at the same time. Since it is Valentine's Day, a lot of people are out wit their loved ones or family. Marzia is spending time with PJ and Joey. Phil, Frankie, Zack and Dan are having fun at their respective homes. Jamie's family is mostly asleep, so he comes over to hang out with Lucas and eat pizza. Felix simply takes a stress bath as suggested by Fanny. Chris spends some video gaming time with Shane. Things seem pretty normal.

On leap year day, Shane is home alone and decides to throw a little party for the kids of his class. The dozen shows up, as well as Cat, Zoë, Brigit and RCL. He has Christmas lights mixed with fairy lights, flickering through the house. Zoë and RCL take turns being the deejay, with Zack interjecting now and then. They manage to have a lot of fun for the twelve (and some thirteen) year olds they are.

Chris finds himself staring at PJ, while Phil finds himself staring at Dan. They know they can't act on their impulses because it is frowned upon by most of the world. Neither is even sure how straight they are, let alone the objects of their affections. Rather than socialize, Chris leaves early, and Phil just hunkers down in Shane's bedroom for most of the night. He doesn't want to think about anything.

In mid-March, Maria Cruikshank is twenty-one and asked to watch Lucas and Jamie while the parents are out. She had been waiting for her boyfriend and girlfriends to show up for a party in the basement. While waiting for them, the rest of the dozen shows up unannounced and unplanned. Shane, PJ, Chris and Zack were hoping to play some Halo. Dan, Phil, Frankie and Joey wanted to watch the latest Lion King sequel to come out. Marzia and Felix had come over, making sure everyone was ready for the test the following week.

Everyone is ushered upstairs when the doorbell rings, and a slew of college kids come in. They head from the front door to the basement, most of them carrying beers another alcohol. When everyone is inside the basement, Chris climbs down the stairs and picks up four cans that had been dropped in the scuffle. Glances are exchanged, but no words are spoken as the kids retreat back to Lucas and Stephanie's room. The 'host' turns up some Panic! At the Disco and Chris pops open a beer.

He shudders at the taste, but tosses one to Frankie, Joey and Phil nonetheless. Each pop it open and stare at it before silently chugging some down and passing it around. An hour passes and half the cans are empty. The kids are entirely buzzed and probably sorta drunk, not that they can bring themselves to care. Marzia is attempting to tell knock-knock jokes but slurring and getting them wrong halfway through. Felix laughs at them anyway, feeling free and loose as he dances to the emo music like a waltz with one of Stephanie's teddy bears.

Jamie and Lucas have far too much energy and zero coordination, running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Chris is bouncing on the bed failing to sing along to the correct lyrics as My Chemical Romance busts out with 'Sing It to the World'. PJ tries to explain to the others what the song means, but he continuously slurs and trips over his words. Joey is enjoying the television despite it not being on. Zack is have an OCD-type freakout and Shane desperately wants to help him clean, thinking it is a scavenger hunt race. By two hours passing, Frankie is now crying in the sink and Dan is seriously in need of help. Phil is at his side, but screeches if anyone else gets near.

The screeching, crying and emo music is put to an abrupt halt when Maria is at the doorway. She has stopped the music in a bit of a tipsy state, bewildered at all the underage drinkers. Immediately, she calls for help by means of blackmailing her sisters (sixteen-year-old Emily and fourteen-year-old Stephanie) to drop their plans and cover up the drunken charades. Everyone sleeps over that night, on the floors of Lucas and Stephanie's room, and Maria and Emily's room. Now Lucas owes her one.

A few weeks later, perfectly sober, the dozen remembers how fun sleepovers used to be. They decide to have one at PJ's house since he is oldest by nineteen days (to Phil). The actual sleepover kicks off at seven with a sing-along mini-marathon of Disney movies. PJ, Phil, Dan, Marzia and Joey want to watch The Lion King – so it is shown first. By the end of it, at nine, Jamie has fallen asleep. Lucas, Felix and Chris wanted to see Beauty and the Beast – so they pop it in directly after.

The movies are over at eleven; Jamie and Lucas are asleep on the couch. Joey is leaning on Lucas, and Marzia is leaning on him. They are falling asleep but aren't just yet. PJ has a fun idea for karaoke fun in pairs. He pairs with Shane, Zack takes Frankie, Dan takes Phil, and Chris is with Felix. The first song to come up is 'T.N.T.' by AC/DC.

"I'm T.N.T., watch me explode!" PJ hollers off-key. Shane doesn't know the words and stumbles over PJ's.

Dan and Phil tackle 'Take Me There' by Mya.

"Take me there, I wanna go there." Dan starts off high and off-key.

"Take me there, let's go there." Phil adds in a lower voice, also off-key.

"Take me to that great place," They chorus, voices blending in nicely. "With wonders and wishes."

They sing fantastically together. When they finish, Joey and Marzia are asleep and the couch is full. After 'Take Me There', Zack and Frankie try for 'The Lazy Song' by Bruno Mars, but they are unable to get through it. Then, Chris and Felix try to sing 'The Sign' by Ace of Base, but they're unable to keep a serious face. A last – incredibly offensive – song comes up on the screen and PJ begs everyone to sing it with him. 'The Stereotypes Song' by Your Favorite Martian.

"You know, I always thought stereotypes were rather ridiculous," PJ starts up, smirking to the camera he's decided to turn on, capturing all their shame and glory. "So I wrote a song about it. And it goes a little something like this."

Chris starts up the chorus. "I think I love you more,"

Zack jumps in. "Than the Japanese love tentacle porn,"

Everyone awake jumps into screen. "And we should DANCE, DANCE, D-D-DANCE, to these stereotypes!"

Phil continues. "Let's go together and live in this world,"

Frankie goes for it. "Like a unibrow on an Indian girl."

Everyone again. "And we should DANCE, DANCE, D-D-DANCE, to these stereotypes!"

"Check it out now." Frankie moves over.

Dan starts up. "I love those fat Americans, you know they so obnoxious."

Shane. "They always eating burgers. They always holding shotguns."

Felix now. "And I love Mexicans. The way they mow my lawn."

PJ hops in. "They all got a hundred kids, cause they don't know how to put a condom on."

All: "Ohhhhhhh!"

Zack. "Cause that's the way they roll, you gotta go big,"

Frankie. "Like an Israeli nose."

Dan. "You ever buy a pint for an Irish guy?"

Phil. "And they're outta control like a Chinese driver?"

Chris. "I love the Middle East, but how do you handle,"

Shane. "Rockin' burgers and ridin' camels?"

Felix. "I love Jamaicans, man they cool,"

PJ. "But they always high, so don't let 'em fool you."

"Yeah, man!" Chris and Felix call out.

Zack. "And I love them Puerto Ricans,"

Frankie. "Even though they wash their ass about once a weekend."

Shane and PJ. "I'm just jokin' and if you didn't know,"

Chris and Felix. "Then, you're a little slow and you're probably from Poland!"

Zack and Frankie. "I think I love you more,"

Chris and PJ. "Than the Japanese love tentacle porn,"

Everyone. "And we should DANCE, DANCE, D-D-DANCE, to these stereotypes!"

Shane and Felix. "Let's go together and live in this world,"

Dan and Phil. "Like a unibrow on an Indian girl."

Everyone again. "And we should DANCE, DANCE, D-D-DANCE, to these stereotypes!"

When the distasteful song is finally over, Chris and PJ collapse on the recliner. The party moves to the kitchen to play Foodmageddon. It is close to midnight, and it is nearing one-thirty when the fun dies down. Frankie and Shane are slowly falling asleep, drinking their creative smoothies – while the remainder of the party moves up to PJ's room to play video games.

"Fast and the Furious." Felix whines.

"Mario Party." Dan complains.

"Compromise." Phil sighs. "Mario and racing. Mario Kart."

Zack bites his lip and agrees. Jamie, Lucas, Joey, Marzia, Chris, PJ, Shane and Frankie are asleep or are falling asleep. This leaves the four of them to battle each other on the sweet game of Mario Kart. Dan takes Luigi, Zack takes Mario, Felix jokingly takes Peach, and so Phil takes Daisy. After a few races, it is past three. Phil and Dan are getting sloppy, leaning on one another as they race. Felix is sound asleep, and Zack sleepily announces himself the winner. He trips over Dan's leg and decides to just stay on the floor. Dan falls asleep on Phil's chest, and Phil falls asleep on Felix.

Nearly a month passes and Felix and Lucas happen to overhear their sisters mention something about a party. Lucas promises to owe Stephanie another favor, whereas Felix vows to write a paper for Fanny's final. The girls bring the dozen to a high school party, granted they don't drink any alcohol. After only being there two hours, Marzia, PJ, Dan and Phil remain in a corner. They don't want to socialize and they aren't sure why they had agreed to come in the first place. Felix is shyly mingling, doing his best to stay away from the older, flirty drunk girls.

Chris and Joey are having a blast, dancing

on the tables to the great song selection. Frankie obtains his role as conversationalist, talking up the older people. Zack finds some mini bottles and stuffs them down his pants. Jamie and Lucas are lost in the crowd upstairs but stay with each other. Shane recognizes the two gamers from the arcade playing Spin the Bottle with Stephanie and some guy he doesn't remember.

"What the hell you lookin' at, ginger dwarf?" The unknown demands.

Shane decides to play it off as though he's drunk. "Nuffin, jus' dat there's not 'nuff girrrs for dat. You gay?"

The unknown kid shoves Shane to the wall and runs down the stairs. It scares Shane 'sober' and his eyes widen in shock.

"Are you drunk?" Stephanie asks him.

"No….. but I might be gay."

She scoffs and runs after the older boy. The gamers stare over to Shane. The one with the green hair nudges Shane.

"Kid, you really gay? Or you got a problem with them?"

"No problem." He shrugs. "I think I might be though."

Downstairs, Phil decides to go outside for some air. Unfortunately, this is exactly where the shover from upstairs has disappeared. Phil is shell-shocked and turns to make a run for it when the older boy remembers him.

"Where ya going fairy?"

"Really, Antonius. Why can't you just call me by my name?"

"What, Fairy ain't it?"

"No, it's Phil."

Antonius has had a few drinks and Phil is making him mad. He hits him hard across the face and shoves him into the side of the house. Phil doesn't make a sound of protest and just takes the beating. It is halted though, by Stephanie prying Antonius off and publicly breaking up with him. She threatens to hit him with a trash can lid and then helps Phil to the bathroom. Seeing his state, Dan immediately runs after.

"Who did this?"

"Some jerk." Stephanie answers, working on the first aid for the small cut Phil has sustained on the side of his head. "I'm sorry, Phil. Do you need me to take you home?"

"That'd be nice."

She drives a little recklessly, due to her slight underage drinking. Dan, Phil and Marzia are in back and PJ is riding up front. A little worriedly, he asks Stephanie how long she's had her driver's license.

"Um, I've had my learner's permit for two weeks."

"How old are you?"

She giggles sheepishly. "Fifteen."

Remarkably, she does a decent parking job and the crowd helps Phil home. They decide they are done with high school until they become high schoolers. On the first week of May, the school is having the seventh graders stay in a school lockdown – supervised by eighth grader student advisor Klementine. Tiffany, Jarrell and Anthony meet in the gymnasium to start working. Zoë, Brigit, RCL and Aisha get to work on their project in the auditorium. Rhett, Cody, Cat, Lisa and Link get straight to work in the eighth grader hallway.

Meanwhile, the others take over the cafeteria and the locker rooms. Chris's job is to take a shower with a special waterproof chip to see if PJ can regulate the water temperature through bodily changes. This means it can read if Chris shivers and the water will get a little hotter. Jamie and Lucas are working on a miniature generator to power a small room. Zack and Frankie are working on an experiment to make plants dance to musical vibrations. Shane and Joey are working on creating freeze-dried ice cream. Felix and Marzia's experiment is all on static electricity. Dan and Phil are trying to heighten their other senses through a tampered modulator.

Just past eleven o'clock, the power goes out. The gymnasium and auditorium doors immediately lock on impulse, as well as the doors leading outside. Chris shrieks, having been in the shower. He quickly wraps a towel around himself and storms out, literally crashing into PJ. Jamie is upset, having been attempting to warm pizza rolls. Dan and Phil are scouring the shadows from their chosen place of work to the cafeteria. It is here they discover Frankie contently listening to music in the corner. It is a lot colder in here, and Felix and Marzia are cuddling for warmth.

In the kitchen area, Joey and Jamie are eating up the ice cream, while Zack is acting like a child – spinning around on the teachers' chairs. Shane is mad about the power going off, but fun messing with Rhett, Cody, Cat, Lisa and Link in the hallway. Then, Lucas ruins the fun and welcomes warmth for the others by finding and plugging in his vamped-up science experiment. Needless to say, when the science fair comes up, Jamie and Lucas are the blue ribbon winners.

"Congrats, guys." The dozen is back inn their treehouse after the competition.

"Thanks, Chris." Jamie raises an eyebrow. "So sore losing streak?"

"Nah." He brushes it off. "So I took countless showers for nothing, who cares? How 'bout a real test?"

"Like what?"

"Like you have this weekend to find access to some alcohol and bring it to school on Monday in a thermos. Or chicken out and go act like one in the courtyard."

"Evil, but I'm in. The rest of you guys, too."

There are scattered excuses around the group, but ultimately, everyone agrees. There are only two weeks left of seventh grade, so they can't get in much trouble with it. Marzia is full of confidence walking in, but she ends up bypassing the alcohol at their local convenience store for some sunglasses instead. Jamie attempts a disguise at the same shop, but the glasses fall and the clerk sees right through it. He runs out horrified. Felix stares at the beer in the shop half an hour later. He attempts a conversation with a possible legal frat boy, but he doesn't take the bait. Dejected, Felix settles for gum.

A little later, PJ is at the shop. He makes it to the checkout, spots Joey walking in, and breaks down crying. He spills his true nature and even Joey's before running out. Joey sighs and walks after him. On Saturday, Frankie walks in, acting like an eighteen-year-old frat boy. Unfortunately, another frat boy is also there and Frankie's plan immediately goes down the toilet. A few hours later, Shane and Zack are getting the alcohol. Shane knows an alley his dad used to go to. Lo and behold, he can still buy alcohol from it. Meanwhile, Zack is at the shop and causes a spill in a far off aisle. He uses the opportunity of the clerk cleaning up, to steal a couple bottles without the barcode of the box. He runs out the door.

Saturday night, just before closing, Chris runs in. He is out of breath. His hair is mussed up and his clothes are ripped. Even one of the sleeves is singed. He starts crying, pleading with the clerk that he needs alcohol for his mother, because he doesn't want to go back to 'the lightning room'. "It's owie there." This works, and the clerk doesn't even ask for money. He just gives the little actor the juice. Bright and early Monday morning, Dan decides he is just too baby-faced to try anything like this. Phil heads up to the mart by the school with a fake ID. He knows the clerk won't bat an eye. Also, just before Maria leaves for work, Lucas simply asks her for some, reminding her of what has gone down this year. Instead of going to first class, Marzia, Jamie, Felix, PJ, Joey, Frankie and Dan are out in the courtyard, behaving like chickens.

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 **Wowie! That was the longest one yet! Seventh grade is over and eighth grade is about to begin…**

 **Extra OCs:**

 **Kennedy (Marzia's HS freshman ex-boyfriend)**

 **Laura May (super sweet 6th grader)**

 **Klementine (8th grade student advisor)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi-ho, Internet! Whew! Time flies fast, huh? I know, I know, I'm TERRIBLE at updating. Well, here we are. Chapter six and the dozen in eighth grade. In eighth grade, I got in so much trouble. It's where you test the limits, right? And see how far you can make your friendships last before they get tired of your bad attitude. As always, I own only those mentioned previous, and my new OCs that I will list at the bottom.**

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Eighth grade starts off as a nightmare before even getting to school. All educators at the school have gone on strike a few weeks before school starts when the principal cuts their pay lower as per orders by the board. Because of this, Lucas's mom Molly is driving their bus. All the eighth-grade teachers are parents of said eighth graders. The kids have already been split into their minischools, and Shane's mother is up front – reading them.

"If I say your name and 8A, you will join Mr. Padilla in class one. If I say your name and 8B, you will join Miss Neal in her class one. Jamie, Frankie, Felix, Jarrell – 8A. Cody, Marzia, Lucas, PJ – 8B. Dan, Joey, oh, Joey! How are you, sweetheart?"

"Hi, Miss D. I'm okay. School, you know."

"Oh, yes, honey. You're in 8A. Link, Chris and Cat – 8B. Rhett, RCL, Lisa – 8A. Brigit, Zoe, Zack – 8B. Who are we missing?"

"Hey, Mom. Remember me? From this morning? Why didn't you tell me you'd be here?"

She purses her lips. "You're in 8B. Who else?"

Shane huffs and kicks the floor. Tiffany and Aisha stride up, giving the woman their names, followed by 'she better not be in the same classes as me.'

"Tiffany, in 8B. Aisha, in 8A. You other two are in 8A."

Anthony shrugs and walks over to Rhett. Phil smiles and joins Dan. Then, they are given their altered schedules. Shane nearly growls reading his with Zack and Lucas at his side. After rotation, class one, with Link's mom, they have linguistics with Cat's mom, history with Jamie's grandpa, lunch with Tiffany and Aisha's moms, and Jarrell's and Brigit's dads supervising, science with Chris's aunt, math with Joey's mom, and languages with PJ's dad.

As far as 8A goes, class one is history with Anthony's dad, and then math with RCL's mom, science with Zoe's mom, lunch with the aforementioned supervising, languages with Dan's dad, linguistics with Phil's dad, and rotation with Felix's mom. Anthony, Link, RCL and Cat suffer through class with their parents. Zoe and Jamie are lucky to be alternate minischools to not have their parents lecturing them. When the lunch bell rings, Brigit storms over and joins Jamie in line, immediately berating him.

"You may think you are cute and amusing, Jamie Crew, but there is no way you don't screw up. Your grandpa hates me, alright? He hates me."

"Will you go? You're holding up the line."

"I will not move, and no one will pass me until I've said what needs to be said. He thinks you're so perfect but guess what? You're not. You're stupid and I don't know why we're friends and, what are you doing?"

Aggravated, he moves his hand over her mouth. "Please don't…. live."

Her eyes go wide, and she screams at him before running away. Jamie sighs and moves up in line, grabbing a cheeseburger and a carton of milk from the act-in lunch ladies – Zack's and Rhett's moms. His friends can't believe he's said that, but it is long forgotten once they get into the topic of their parents working the school. During the second week, the fire alarm goes off in class five. Joey's mom is teaching math and nearly throws Shane to his feet. Angry with this, the thirteen-year-old shoves Mrs. Graceffa away from him and he barrels down the hall. Phil's dad is teaching linguistics and he does basically the same thing, only a bit rougher to his son.

Tears start to form, and Phil pushes his way out of the classroom. His dad grabs his arm, but the sprinklers cut on and Phil runs. Shane and Phil have left the school grounds. While Shane has run home, Phil has gone elsewhere. Dan finds him in the clubhouse after school, pacing and throwing things. Phil's dad has done things like this for a while, and only Dan knows about it. Phil isn't comfortable with anyone else knowing. Two weeks later, Dan, Phil and PJ are up in the clubhouse and Martyn calls the house. They have a redirect line, so they can listen to the calls like a tapped wire.

Phil is excited to hear from Martyn. His brother is only a little over an hour away at college, but he's got his own friends and a girlfriend. They get to see each other in September for Martyn's birthday, and then two weeks for Christmas, and then again in January/February for Phil's birthday, and three weeks in the summer. He shushes the other two, so he can listen in on his brother's call.

"Oh, sweetheart, you're early. Are you on the way"

"No, mom. Uh, look, I need to tell you something. Is Phil around?"

"No, he's out with friends." She sounds a bit concerned. "What is it?"

"Well, it's Nellie. She's got this thing with her folks and they've got something planned for my birthday. Cool, right?"

"Oh, yes. I'll break it to your brother. You go have fun. We'll see you at Christmas, then?"

"Uh, well, heh. Actually, Nellie's got this sweet place up in the mountains. Me, her and a couple of buddies are gonna head out there and spend the holidays. I'll send you guys your presents and then you'll have the address."

"Oh. O-Okay, sweetheart. We'll just see you for Phil's birthday."

"If I can make it." He takes a sharp inhale. "That'll be when the new semester starts up again. Got a lot going on. Oh, and hey. Guess what?"

"What, sweetie?"

"I got accepted in that media school. Yeah, I'm switching out at November."

"Oh? And um, how, how far away did you say that was again?"

"Not far. Bout three hours from here, give or take." The sound of a door closing, followed by giggling and a can snapping open is heard. "Oh, gotta go, Mom. Thanks for being cool. C'mere, you."

Phil has remained frozen with the phone in his hand for quite some time. Dan and PJ are on their feet, a little worried about him, but Phil waits until he hears his mom hang up with the second click on the other end. He screams. He throws the phone on the floor and screams and throws a fit.

"What the hell happened there?" PJ is bewildered.

"Martyn's not coming back! He's switching schools and he won't be here for his birthday or for Christmas and probably not even my birthday!"

"So?"

"Shut up, Liguori!" He responds, bawling. "He left me behind! He left me behind with my mom and my stupid father!"

Dan tries to calm Phil down as Shane scales the clubhouse. He's heard the screams and wants to know what is going on. He is almost at the entrance when he hears PJ.

"So what? What's he gonna do, spank you or some crap?"

It sends Phil over the edge. He attacks PJ, punching him in the face. PJ tries to claw back, and Shane shows up. He attacks Phil and soon the two are punching, kicking and fighting. Shane shoves Phil against a table, where the latter's head thuds. Dan is at his side, while Shane helps PJ down and away. Phil wakes up a few minutes later, crying and holding onto Dan like a lifeboat.

A month passes. It is getting close to Halloween, and things are just falling to pieces. Out of the dozen, the only people hang out with in within the minischool. In minischool B, Shane has become a bully. He doesn't care about his mom being at school. He protects PJ, who has remained polite and happy. PJ is still close friends with Cat – who is focusing more on schoolwork, but his other friends have fallen behind. Marzia no longer sticks up for herself or socializes. She, Brigit, Link and Cody are constantly being bullied by Shane. Brigit and Cody spend a lot of time together, sharing brownies and whatnot.

Link likes to start food fights in the cafeteria to break tension. Zoe has been hanging out with Tiffany and the two act like they're older than they are. Chris isn't very social and spends most of his time playing video games. Zack is increasingly hyperactive, being one of the only three to cross minischools. Link crosses over with the food fights, having Joey step up and initiate them from the 8A side. Zack crosses over to fight with all eighth graders. Lucas crosses by being overly protective of Jamie.

Jamie is being constantly targeted by Phil, due to his major clumsiness. Zack sometimes tries to pick a fight with Dan though, and Phil goes ballistic. With Dan being the person Phil trusts the most, if anyone harms him, Phil will be there to knock said person's teeth out. Phil and Zack have been in a lot of fights and some of their teeth is missing. Dan gets stressed and is eating a lot of candy to deal with it, especially Maltesers. Anthony and Aisha are dating, but Aisha also likes to make out with Lisa, who wants nothing of commitment.

Jarrell is no longer much of a threat, focusing his energy on the field, not to say that he won't pick a fight now and then. Rhett has become a science nut, as well as teacher's pet when it comes to Mrs. Sugg. Felix is in speed group with RCL. They are very alert when it comes to their grades, though some of it may come from the Adderall they are hooked on. Frankie also finds himself in trouble with Phil because he is verbally announced as Mr. Lester's favorite. He is affectionate and has dyed his hair pink, but he makes it clear not to put a label on him.

Weeks go by, and the dozen simply drifts farther apart – until one day. Felix, Phil, Lucas, Frankie and Chris meet up with one another in the backroom of the nurse's office. Time goes by far too slowly and it becomes evident none of them are moving. Chris looks green, Phil is wearing a cast on his left arm, Felix has a washrag over his face, Frankie has a smart mark on the side of his face, and Lucas has his hand rising and falling on his chest. Phil is the one to finally speak up after over an hour.

"Still haven't beat the asthma, huh?"

Lucas glances up. "Not yet." He pauses. "What happened to your arm?"

"Got pushed down the stairs."

"Ouch." Frankie comments softly. "I got hit by a lot of volleyballs after some loser called me gay." He glances over to Chris and Felix. "What about you two?"

"Threw up." Chris mumbles. "On my teacher. Jamie's grandpa."

"I got sick too." Felix mutters. "Too much Adderall."

"Hey, guys." Lucas almost whispers. "It's almost November 25th."

"And?" Phil questions, not seeing where he's going with this.

"And, we decided the 25th this year, we'd finally go camping. Remember?"

Up until the final bell rings, the five chat about camping. They decide to forget about everything that's happened. Forgive and forget.

[To: Dan, PJ; From: Phil

 _Meet at the clubhouse at 4_ ]

[To: Jamie, Joey; From: Lucas

 _Meet at the clubhouse at 4_ ]

[To: Marzia; From: Felix

Meet me at the clubhouse at 4. Trust me.]

[To: Shane, Zack; From: Frankie

Listen and meet at the clubhouse at 4. No fighting.]

Chris is first to arrive, desperately hoping that the others will listen and pay attention. Phil comes in shortly with Dan; then Lucas and Jamie, Marzia and Zack. Frankie comes in, and then PJ and Joey. Felix finally shows, and Shane climbs up thirty minutes late. There is no fighting, but there is also no talking. Phil's eye twitches toward Lucas, and the younger boy stands up to gather everyone's attention. Shane jumps up, ready to fight, but Frankie whistles so every head turns.

"Thanks, Frankie. You guys, this fighting needs to stop. We need to be there for each other. Especially next year, when there are no more minischools and us freshmen can be in the same classes as nasty juniors. Look, it's almost November 25th. A while ago, we agreed we'd go camping. I'm still willing to go. And so are Phil, Frankie, Felix and Chris. We made up today. Forgive and forget."

After a long bout of uncomfortable silence, Zack apologizes; he and Marzia join at the side. As do Jamie, Dan and PJ. Slowly, Joey crawls over to join. Shane, on the other hand, is having none of this. He calls everyone losers and climbs out. Frankie shouts the time and details down to him and the others decide to just hang out until they need to leave. At four pm, when the twenty-third rolls around, Nicole's car is packed up with the girl's and guys' things. They are just about to head out when Shane shows up with a bag.

"Forgive and forget?" Phil asks hopefully.

"Alright." He agrees, tossing his bag over to Felix. "I'm not so big on the sleeping in nature part though."

The ride doesn't take too long. Nicole only stays to unpack her car. They are on Thanksgiving break and it is Thanksgiving night. She promises to be back Saturday morning at nine am. After she leaves, Jamie and Zack move over to set up the tents. There are only seven tents, so all but two of them will be doubling up. Marzia decides to be one and Felix chooses to be the other. Jamie sees no problems sharing with Lucas and Zack doesn't mind sharing with Frankie. Phil volunteers to share with Dan.

The tent-setting isn't going so well, but Shane has brought along duct tape. Chris has smuggled in some beers. He, Phil, Zack, Frankie, Shane and Joey each take one; Shane decides rooming with Chris won't be bad. There is one tent left, with PJ and Joey left to share it. Felix struggles to make a fire, so Dan does it for him. It isn't long before Marzia shoves him out of the way to roast some hot dogs and marshmallows. As it gets dark, PJ is trying to convince everyone how much fun it would be to go streaking. Chris and Frankie continue drinking, playing a game of Jump the Fire with sober companions Dan and Joey. Lucas makes plans to jumps through bushes and scare his friends, when Phil bamboozles them all. Chugging a beer, he runs through the campsite with nothing on but the lion hat from last Christmas.

The others laugh, but Frankie and Joey strip as well. They've gone skinny-dipping around each other before. They aren't shy about themselves. It isn't long before Zack and Chris join in as well. Soon though, everyone is getting back to the tents to go to sleep. The gang is thankful to be back on good terms with one another. The first one up the next morning is Chris. It is eight am and he has a brilliant idea to go hiking in the woods. Eventually, everyone agrees, and they are off. They stay out a long time and, before they realize it, the sun is setting.

"Alright, Brainiac." Zack directs his question to Chris. "Where to? How do we get back to camp?"

"Uh, North…. East?"

"Dammit!" Shane shouts. "Dammit, dammit, dammit! We're lost, aren't we?"

"Doesn't anyone have a map?" Zack asks. "Or service?"

Chris slaps his head. "No, you idiot! That was the point!"

"Oh, God. We're all gonna die!" Lucas whimpers. "I don't wanna die in the woods!"

"Hell yeah we will." Marzia replies grumpily. "With your screaming, someone's gonna catch us and we'll all be dead."

"I am surrounded by unfamiliar landscapes and idiots." Jamie says more to himself than anyone else.

"Rude, Jamie." Joey shoves the other.

Phil, getting upset from lack of sleeping and the inability to see clear as the sky darkens, tries to remain in control. "It's this way. I'm, uh, I'm sure of it."

"Hush, Philly. I got this." Dan attempts to be soothing but flinches when Phil just shrugs him off and keeps moving.

"No, Dan. You really don't." Felix sighs, walking past.

"Shut up, Felix." Frankie groans. "Guys, we have been walking in circles for hours!"

PJ suddenly spots something and laughs a little. "What the frickety-frack? Is that a mall?"

Sure enough, through the clearing, there is a shopping mall. It is closed, due to it being so late, but there are phones outside the mall, available for anyone to use. Lucas uses the phone to call his sister, who is out anyway and pretty close to where they are. They wait a good forty-five minutes when a limo pulls up. Maria stumbles out.

"What's up, bitches?"

"Where'd you get a limo?" Her brother asks.

"Stole it." She shrugs. "No, it's totally my friend's."

"Hey." A hand waves from the back. "She said there were a lot of you, so come on in. We can go grab your camp shit and take you guys back to wherever." 

"Thanks, uh?"

"Just call me Pepper. Everyone does."

Pepper isn't drinking, but she offers alcohol to the kids. Maria has already fallen asleep against her. Chris and Zack are the only ones to take her up on it, having high alcohol tolerances and not really caring how the night turns out. They gather their things and Pepper's personnel takes them to the clubhouse. When they get back to school the following Monday, school is different.

The week's rotation is art. Every student in either minischool splits between partners and agrees on a form of art. Minischool A's theme is Animalia. Anthony and Aisha are partners. She gets him to wear lipstick, so they can create an actual Lipstick Jungle. Rhett is with RCL and Jarrell is with Lisa. They have food-type art structures. Joey and Jamie are a duo, taking photos of animals, writing descriptions and creating a collage. Felix and Frankie are crafting a mixology course with drinks named for animals – the virgin versions of course. Also, Dan and Phil are working together on sculptures – especially lions and llamas.

Minischool B's theme is Wasteland. Zoe and Tiffany team up, creating a mural in nail polish. Link and Cody team up, showing the byproducts of medicinal marijuana. Cat and Brigit work together by creating a three-dimensional work of art using recyclables found over campus. Marzia and Lucas work together with a watercolor painting on the side of the equipment shed – yes, they got permission first. Shane and Zack meld pastels with pencil sketches to create a beautiful outlining of how much difference a few changes can make. Chris and PJ use charcoal and spray paint on the courtyard to show the environment they live in. Riverstone Grammar School definitely knows its stuff.

"Watercolors are so last year. Don't you know that? You should've done what I did. Did you see what I did? Well, me and Cat, but it was my idea. Did you see, Lucas? We got all 3-D in this house. Well, school. But you didn't do anything like that. Did you? Hey!"

Brigit pouts as Lucas lets out a long sigh, aimed directly to her, and walks away. She hates feeling ignored. After school, he wants to head out to the arcade. Everyone but Joey agrees; he claims to have other things to do and Shane offers to go along. The two of them joke around on the way to Joey's house – until they get to the driveway. Joey's dad – who left the family seven years ago – is standing by an unfamiliar truck, his mom and a little toddler boy.

"Do you want me to go?" Shane asks quietly.

Joey shakes his head. He grabs Shane's arm and the boys walk up to the man.

"Shane, maybe you should go." Joey's mom says gently.

"No way, Mom. I need someone I trust with me when I ask," He turns to his dad. "What the hell are you doing here and who the hell are these people?"

The man lets out a shaky sigh. "Well, boy, this is my wife Jillian, and," He pauses to pick up the little kid. "This here's our son Jett."

"Hi, Joe." Jett smiles with a little wave.

Joey shakes his head. "I have a brother now? Does Nic know?"

His mom nods. "She went to the mall."

"I don't believe this." He shakes his head again. "I'm staying over at Shane's tonight."

Joey tugs on Shane and the younger (by three months) boy follows. Joey continues to hold Shane's hand, tugging the distracted boy toward his house. Along the way, Shane manages to snatch a few nice-looking flowers. When they arrive in the driveway, Shane instructs Joey to 'stay here'. Joey is his closest friend and he hates seeing his friend so upset. It doesn't take long. Shane climbs up a couple branches of a tree and grabs a nest. The eggs inside are cracked and the birds have moved on. Shane dusts it out, flips it over and intertwines the flowers. When he returns, it looks like a little hat.

"What's this?" Joey asks, evident he's been crying.

"Um, a flower helmet." Shane shrugs with a smile.

"It's beautiful." Joey accepts it and places it on his head.

They go inside and start working on homework and end up falling asleep in bed after playing video games under the covers. After the kids have been out of school on vacation a couple weeks, a new Christmas-themed Slenderman movie has come out in theaters. So has the omniscient genie movie Akinator. Chris wants badly to see the rated-R Slendy movie, so the twelve buys their tickets for Akinator and sit up front. When the lights dim, and the ushers disappear, there is some loud action on the screen, and the kids drop to their sticky knees.

Marzia stays behind, finding Akinator to be rather interesting. The rest have front-row seats to the massacre movie of the year. Thirty minutes in, Shane manages to scare Zack, who retreats to Frankie, PJ, who is about to cry, and Dan, who hides his face in Phil's chest. Frankie is also scared, but he is not admitting it. Phil isn't scared at all, only jumping when one of his friends startles him. He is instead talking with Jamie as they predict what will happen next. Lucas is screaming loud, but Felix just finds the movie to be funny. Joey takes PJ and sneaks back to the Akinator movie with Marzia.

After both movies are over, Joey, PJ and Marzia keep laughing at how cheesy the movie was. Felix and Phil also find their movie to be over-the-top. Jamie didn't understand much of what was going on, because they changed it so much to be Christmassy. Chris had been laughing at the characters' stupidity level, but he loves the movie. Dan, Shane, Frankie and Zack never want to see it again. On the eve of Christmas Eve, Marzia is left home alone, so she turns her house into a fashion project. She models all sorts of outfits, wondering aloud why she hardly has any girlfriends; in fact, none except sometimes Cat.

Back in school, the students are asked to write poems and dedicate them to inanimate objects. Dan dedicates his poem to the Spencer's store he shops at. PJ dedicates his to the microphone from the talent show; Marzia, to the gargoyles guarding the Notre Dame; Felix, to that flamethrower from the field trip to the circus; Jamie, to tagalong Girl Scout cookies, and Chris, to E.T. from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. They are all nice, goofy, fluffy kids stuff. Tiffany, Jarrell, Anthony, Zoe, Lisa, Rhett and Aisha write for people in class. Brigit and RCL write for their respective teachers – Mrs. Liguori and Mr. Howell.

Lucas dedicates his to the cheese sticks they sell in the cafeteria, but his mind is on family life. Link, Cody and Cat are too passionate, and use slurs and swears in their work. They aren't apologetic about it. Frankie dedicates his to his shadow, but it is more or less about how stupid he feels he is. Zack dedicates a poem to Adrian's kiddie pool, but basically cuts down on everyone close to him without naming names. Shane dedicates his to cough syrup, remarking how sweet it tastes when the rest of the world is bitter. Phil uses up his fueled anger toward his family and specifically Martyn by writing a disturbing poem and dedicating it to the bottle of red wine in the teacher's lounge. Joey is feeling a similar type of betrayal towards his father and the man's secret hidden family, so he writes an equally as disturbing poem, dedicating it simply to Satan.

Joey is left home alone a few days later, so the school board can talk to his mom over therapy counseling. He climbs up to his attic to cuddle with his old stuffed animals, and this is where he is found when Nicole and his mom are back. Several weeks later, in February, Joey and Phil have begun therapy sessions at the school. Shane has a different form of therapy. All eighth graders are called to assembly to watch a 'realistic' video on endorphins – basically showing what happens to your body when you are in love and how the object of your desire may feel.

Aisha feels she can relate to the snobby rich girl, and Lisa can relate to the secretly-a-smarty-pants kid. They glance to one another, seeing themselves say the words on the screen. In scenario one, Aisha finds Lisa in the library and says, 'I love you.' Lisa turns with a book in her hand and says, 'What even is love?' In scenario two, Marzia finds she can greatly relate to a character, as can Felix. They imagine themselves in the lunch line. Felix is in front and turns around to say, 'I love you.' Marzia smiles wide and says 'No, I love YOUUUUU!' and gives him a sloppy kiss.

The entire video is like this, relatable characters saying, 'I love you' and the other saying something to that effect. Each time, the video zooms in on the endorphins and age range, showing how different situations at different ages can provoke different responses. Zoe sees herself telling Link with his response being 'Well, why wouldn't you?', while Lucas sees himself telling Jamie with the response being 'Love you MORE.' Cody sees himself telling Cat, who answers with 'Huh?', but Zack sees himself telling Frankie, who says 'For how long?'

Tiffany sees herself telling Anthony, with him brushing her off with a simple 'Mmm-hmm.' Shane sees himself telling Joey, who replies with a smug 'I know.' Rhett sees himself telling Brigit, who then says, 'Thank you.' Chris sees himself telling PJ, who says 'I love… cake.' RCL finds herself telling Jarrell, for him to say, 'I have to pee.' Finally, on the concluding scenario, Dan relates to the character saying 'I love you' to a long-time misunderstood friend. Phil relates to the friend who replies in disbelief, '… Really?' The eighth graders aren't ready for this.

On the last week of February, the activities administrator, Ms. Dawson, announces they will be having a picnic field day. Twelve eighth graders are asked to bring a dessert, while the other twelve eighth graders are asked to bring fruits of some sort. Cody, Jarrell, Anthony, Zoë, Lisa and Rhett all bring different types of cookies. RCL has angel food cake and Tiffany has devil food cake. Link brings brownies. Cat brings blueberry pie and Aisha brings in apple pie. Brigit just brings a can of spray-on whipped cream. Marzia carries in a few red apples, Felix has a couple coconuts, and Jamie looks pleased toting around a frozen pineapple. Lucas has the juiciest oranges, Chris has cherries in pairs, and PJ just has bunches of raspberries in a bag. Joey carries in baby blueberries, Dan has a crate of fruity juice pouches, and Zack has a box of soft peaches. Frankie brings in a bag of pears, and Phil has a crate of oddly shaped mangoes. Shane has bananas and gets into trouble for acting overly sexual around them.

On the way home from their picnic field day, Felix is busy writing permission notes from all the parents, so they can all get off at Frankie's stop. It works, as it always does. They're pretty sure the bus driver knows what they are doing anyway. Chris and Zack disappear from the others as they make their way down to Frankie's basement. It is an unspoken agreement to hang out down there when they go to his house.

"So, what're we doing today?" Felix asks, tracing the lining of the pool table.

Frankie shrugs, wondering where the other two are but not putting much focus into it. Shane walks over and grabs the rack, ready to beat Felix at a game of Billiards. Dan, Phil and Joey are relaxing on the couch. Felix gets a shot in and Shane is lining up his second shot when Chris and Zack come down the stairs, and Frankie lets out a shocked yelp.

"Why do you have those?"

"Relax, man." Chris tosses him a beer. "Your folks aren't gonna be back for a while, right?"

"Yeas, but"

"C'mon, Frank." Zack pats his back, handing out beers to the others. "I christen this day to be Beer Day. On every twenty-eighth of February of each year, we will have Beer Day."

Chris joins in, raising a can. "We'll let loose and not do any school and then come to one of our houses and drink. And if we can get to no houses, then, um,"

Lucas takes over with his own can raised. "Then we go to the clubhouse like we should've done today. No school, Beer Day."

The others look around. Slowly, beer cans are raised by Shane, Joey, Dan, Marzia and Phil. Frankie sighs and raises his can, resulting in Felix mimicking him. PJ and Jamie are the last to raise their open cans.

"To Beer Day!"

Only three hours later, the thirteen and fourteen-year-olds are wasted. Jamie and Lucas are flirting with everyone, plus inanimate objects. Marzia cannot stop talking and is having a conversation with her shadow. Felix is jumping around, spinning and generally acting silly. Chris is up, dancing with him. Joey and PJ are very drunk, yelling at the wall. Shane is detached and sloppy, wanting very much to go to sleep on the star rail. Frankie is solely flirting with Zack, who is super quiet and petting the boy in question. Phil thinks he has dragon breath and is attempting to set a fire with it. Dan, on the other hand, it attempting to clean a spilled bag of chips, but he keeps dropping and finding the same chip. It is an endless cycle.

Ariana gets home two hours after this. She is eleven and in Girl Scouts. She also knows that Frankie drinks sometimes. A little worried for her brother, she finds as much hairspray and aerosol spray in general. She finds all the cans and gets rid of them. She quickly sprays the entire basement. She finally pours saltwater on her brother and his friends, waking them up – and choking a few of them. Although not ideal, it causes them to be awake and sorta aware when Frankie's grandpa shows up minutes later.

The friends disperse to their own homes for supper. After eating, Frankie goes up to his room with Ariana. They turn on his computer and read up on celebrity gossip, throwing in their own comments. Next door, Zack is in his room. His brother Peyton is only five, so Zack uses him as a test subject to practice jokes. Down the street, Dan is using his bed like a balance beam and a trampoline. His brother Adrian is also five, but he is a tattletale, so Dan is extra careful not to get caught.

At the same time, Jamie and his eleven-year-old brother Timmy are playing with a lighter they found once at the playground. Across the street, Lucas is talking to his eighteen-year-old sister Emily's friend Brandon through Skype. He claims the camera isn't working on his side, but he just has a piece of tape over the lens, so he can flirt with the older guy. Marzia is in her room, practicing her fist pumping with her pug, to better fit in with the guys.

Felix has a secret Facebook account called Pew D. Pie and is on it. There, he goes wild and uses emojis and gifs in everything. PJ is eating and crying under his bed. Joey is baking cookies in an Easy Bake oven and sharing them with his eighteen-year-old sister Nicole. Shane merely lies in his bed, questioning everything, including why he has the friends he has. Chris is busy looking up everything he can possibly think up – including people's names – on Urban Dictionary. Also, Phil is not as innocent as he seems. Hiding in his wardrobe in his room, Phil is on his laptop, masturbating to gay porn.

Later, in April, the school counselor calls out fourteen students – Felix, Marzia, Jamie, Lucas, Shane, Joey, Anthony, Zack, Frankie, Chris, PJ, Dan, Phil and Lisa – who are in need of fixing their bad habits before they graduate. Of course, Brigit isn't called in at all. She bounds over to the group settling inside the counseling office, latching onto the last person: Chris.

"I am so sorry you have bad enough issues that someone had to tell you. I don't know what it could be except that I do, because I think it's when you sometimes talk under your breath. Y'know, it's like you're talking to yourself. Do you see your reflection? Or are you talking to your shadow. I used to"

Her rant is cut off very quickly. Chris raises a hand, slaps the girl and walks into the office. He shuts the door in her face and sits down next to PJ. It isn't long before the counselor begins calling over the students to talk one-on-one. According to her, Felix needs to stop clicking his pen, Joey needs to stop giggling to himself, Zack needs to learn manners at lunchtime, and Lucas needs to quit whining over small details. Jamie is asked to quit drumming his fingers, Marzia to stop twirling her hair, Dan to quit constantly moving his legs around, and Frankie to stop making grand hand gestures when he talks. She asks that Anthony stop slamming doors, Shane to quit biting his nails, and Lisa stop following people into the restrooms. Finally, she requires Phil to quit openly glaring when he concentrates, PJ to quit randomly doodling as he stares off into space, and – Brigit was right – Chris to quit bantering with himself in the halls.

The kids are now a bit more self-conscious than they already were. They do their best to follow the requests, so they can graduate on to high school. Lucas, Chris, Cat and RCL finish eighth grade with A-pluses. They achieved all points possible with extra credit, and they are going straight into honors classes come high school. Felix, Shane, Jamie and Link managed above ninety-five As, without completing all the extra credit. They will be in a couple honors classes. Marzia and Aisha have B-pluses; PJ, Rhett and Zoe have solid Bs. Cody, Lisa, Joey, Dan, Phil and Tiffany end the year with C averages. As such, Jarrell, Zack, Brigit, Frankie and Anthony just barely pass. They will all be attending high school this coming year.

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 **If you don't mind, leave a review. It can be positive, negative, constructive, casual, or just a simple hi.** **😊 please?**

 **1 OC:**

 **1\. Pepper (cool; rich)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey there, Internet! How've you guys been? It's been wild over here. Surprise, though. I'm not going to bore you with my ramblings this time. The dozen is (after summer vacation, of course) starting high school! They've survived a lot, but high school can change a person. Well, time to delve into it. At the bottom, I'll list all my OCs thus far and what chapter I introduced them in. This is high school, though, and there will be A LOT of new OCs to try and remember. Warning: there's sex in this chapter. Between who? Well, read and find out! Rule: if it is familiar, I don't own it. Here we go!**

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Just a week into the summer vacation after eighth grade, Jamie has been acting very strange around Lucas. Unable to hold it in anymore, but feeling highly self-conscious, Jamie had invited Lucas over. Since they realistically live across the street from one another, it barely takes any time at all. When Lucas arrives, Jamie is pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.

"Are you okay?"

Jamie jumps almost a foot in the air at the question. Lucas is at his side, head cocked in question, and a forming smile playing on his lips. Jamie stutters, attempting to talk to his best friend and inwardly laughing at himself when nothing comes of it. He sighs, deciding to forgo the whole shebang when Lucas grabs his wrist.

"Hey, you wanna go eat somewhere?"

"Uh, yeah." Jamie nods frantically.

"Mario's isn't too far away." Lucas smiles.

"Yeah." Jamie nods again, now blushing feverishly.

Lucas's smile widens. "Perfect. It's a date."

"A date?" Jamie looks as though he is about to pass out.

Lucas's smile fades just for a second. He tightens his grip and pulls Jamie closer. He hesitantly kisses the other boy's cheek and the smile breaks out again when he feels Jamie's grin. The grip on his hand slides down so they are holding hands, and the boys walk off to their date. After a nice date at Mario's, the boys head to the park. They spend time with each other until they are forced to break apart for their respective camps. Camp is over, though, a couple weeks before school starts.

Felix has let loose. He is skateboarding or roller-skating everywhere, and sticking wet toilet tissue to the bathroom ceilings. Chris returns from camp, trying his hand at being a socialite, reading sex tips. Lucas doesn't seem to know what he is. He seems emo one minute, then scene, and even kawaii. For the most part, he is just acting up. Moreover, Jamie is back to his old bullying ways – though he is doing so in a way where he is also a perfectionist and teacher's pet. Marzia's mom has died of cancer, and the girl is secluded, yet drawing tattoos on herself and has a desire to be a cheerleader. Joey has enrolled in an acting course and returns overly sexualized, pointing out every single '69'.

Frankie is now a horse-crazy hipster obsessed with purple colors and hues. PJ is reblling against authority, mostly by wasting the day playing moshi monsters and angry birds. Dan is smoking cigarettes now, making "your mum" jokes whenever they come up. Shane is continuously late and daydreaming whenever he does show up. Phil mindlessly draws dicks and boobs everywhere, but seems to have lost all emotion and just glares all the time. Lastly, there are rumors that Zack bit a tutoring teacher. He is nothing more than a glaring punk.

On the last week of summer vacation, Jamie makes sure to hit all the back-to-school sales. While he doesn't look like he cares, he actually wants to keep up some good grades. Lucas rents out every movie about school and secludes himself in his bedroom. Zack is sleeping in extra long to make up for the impending school schedule. Frankie starts writing out forgeries and backs up some excuse notes for not being in class. Shane tries his hardest to do as many fun things as possible, Marzia spends her time redecorating her room and buying new clothes, and Felix decides to give up on the upcoming workload. Chris is constantly on social media. Joey and PJ throw contrasting parties – and none of the other ten show at either. Phil is collecting books so he won't be bored when he is sitting in detention, and Dan really doesn't give a fuck.

The gang hits the mall on the Friday before school begins. It isn't planned, but somehow, they all manage to be there. Marzia and Felix run into one another with lists in their hands. They are searching for the right outfits and designed supplies. Lucas, Joey, Zack, Frankie and Dan run into each other in the arcade, blowing all their supply money on beating high scores. Shane has gift cards. He and Jamie run into each other at the food court, where Jamie manipulates Shane into buying all their food. As for Chris, PJ and Phil, they find each other shopping at Hot Topic.

The last weekend before high school hits the crew like a ton of bricks. Zack, Lucas, Shane and Frankie go out and have a good time. Marzia tries to hook up a scam; Joey, Dan and Jamie feel conflicted. The rest of the group decides to just stay in, each of them wondering what the others are doing. Still, they don't pick up a phone or anything. Everything can wait until Monday morning.

Climbing aboard the bus on the first day of a new school, the gang looks more different than anyone. At the first stop, a snarky older boy nicknamed Roadkill steps on. He is wearing chains and spikes, and settles in the last seat in back. Marzia steps on with her hair in an above-the-shoulder bob. She is only wearing a bright blue bikini bathing suit, and carrying the school cheerledaer uniform. PJ has an undercut but looks normal in a T-shirt and jeans. Felix has an aggressive pixie cut and is wearing seven sweaters, not caring about what other people say. Joey's hair is short with long layers and light lavender dye. He's come to school in his pajamas. RCL now has glasses. Her hair is longer but in a ponytail; she is also wearing a cheerleading uniform.

At the second stop, Tiffany steps up in a cheerleading uniform. Behind her is the new girl Ocea. She is carrying a skateboard but is dressed smart. Louise is on then, dressed in bright, glittery clothes. At the third stop, Phil's hair is short, layered and wispy, with fringe combed to the right. He is wearing all black. Chris boards with his hair grown out long and free – wearing a black shirt that pointedly reads 'F*CK B!TC#ES, GET M$NEY'. Shane climbs on afterward with a blunt, past-the-shoulder cut and wearing what he slept in. A new student Denver also climbs on. His hair is similar to Chris's, but he is wearing denim and carrying a guitar.

At the fourth stop, Zack bounds onto the bus. He has shaved both sides of his hair and is wearing just a snuggie – a blanket with arms. Jarrell looks like a normal kid, in just a T-shirt and jeans, while Frankie has cut his hair with a quiff and given it hot pink highlights. He jumps onto the bus wearing glow-in-the-dark clothing. Tyler boards, wearing a baseball jersey and track pants. Dan climbs on reluctantly, with one side of his hair shaven, and wearing nothing more than a wife beater and his Sonic boxers.

At the fifth stop, Lisa is wearing the shortest miniskirt, cowboy boots and the skimpiest halter tube top. Her hair is also in a messy bun. Aisha is wearing a track shorts and a glittery halter tank top. Troye now has light green hair. He nearly trips climbing aboard, carrying stacks of play scripts in his hands. He is wearing a T-shirt and jeans, but also a cape. Connor and Ian are shoving one another as they climb on. The former is in a tracksuit, and the latter is wearing a baseball jersey and jeans. At the sixth and final stop, a new girl named Miranda steps up. She has short, choppy dishwater blonde hair andwears ripped denim. Lucas is behind her, with long, layered hair and an oversized sweater with his basketball shorts. Lastly, Jamie climbs on. He has wispy bangs and is wearing a Hawaiian shirt with cargo shorts.

When the bus is stopped in traffic, Roadkill takes this time to give the new freshmen their nicknames – by using a slingshot to hurl pieces of paper with the words writeen on them, at the freshmen's heads. Maria is Terminator; PJ is Absolute Cactus; Felix, Sinnamon Roll; Joey, Problematic Fave; RCL, Vanity Plate. Tiffany, Gay Chapstick; Phil, Gay Baby Jail; Chris, Rare Pepe; Shane, Squuidley; Denver, Dino Drummer. Zack, Leeroy Jenkins; Jarrell, Coconut Doorknob; Frankie, Homosuck; Dan, Memelord. Lisa, Slutty Owl; Aisha, Bent Thumbtack; Miranda, Baby Poser; Lucas, Hottie Loser; Jamie, Ass Wrecker. Roadkill is a dim-witted senior who gets his licence suspended a lot for rear-ending people and whatnot. He is a bully and doesn't really care what he does.

The nicknames more or less roll off the freshmen's backs as they admire their new schedules. No one has the same schedules entirely, but there are a lot of the same classes. The school is fairly small, so there is one teacher for each subject.

CLASS ONE

Algebra with Mr. Hark – Lisa, Alan, Cody, PJ, Tyler, Troye, Marzia, Fawn, Joey, Rhett, Ocea and Lil

Biology with Mr. Rider – Jasmine, Gerald, Zoe, RCL, Aisha, Jazz, Angel, Kennedy, Lacey and Logan

English Honors with Dr. Robinson – Lucas, Link, Miranda, Cat, Carrie, Shane, Chris and Jamie

French I with Madam Lewinski – Phil, Denver, Dan, Felix, Tiffany, Klementine, Sean, Mark, Kevin and Hunter

Rise English with Miss Jessica – Frankie, Zack, Brigit, Anthony, Jarrell and Brock

CLASS TWO

Algebra with Mr. Hark – Jasmine, Dan, Gerald, Zoe, Aisha and RCL

Biology with Mr. Rider – Joey, Rhett, Marzia, Denver and Phil

English I with Mr. Mills – Lisa, Alan, Cody, Felix, PJ and Tiffany

AP Algebra with Mr. Rafacz – Lucas, Link, Miranda, Cat, Carrie, Shane, Chris and Jamie

Rise Maths with Miss Gloria – Frankie, Zack, Brigit, Anthony, Jarrell and Brock

CLASS THREE

Algebra with Mr. Hark – Denver, Phil, Felix and Tiffany

Biology with Mr. Rider – Dan, Lisa, Alan, Cody and PJ

English I with Mr. Mills – Jasmine, Gerald, Zoe, Joey, Rhett, Marzia, Aisha and RCL

AP Biology with Dr. Potts – Lucas, Link, Miranda, Cat, Carrie, Shane, Chris and Jamie

Rise Science and Nature with Miss Hanna – Frankie, Zack, Brigit, Anthony and Jarrell

CLASS FOUR

Lunch A – Denver, Felix, Lisa, Cody, Gerald, Joey, Marzia, RCL, Lucas, Miranda, Carrie, Chris, Zack, Anthony

Co-Ed Physical Education – Phil, Dan, Aisha, Miranda, Cat, Anthony, Zack and Jarrell

Music Arts/ Choir – Denver, Tiffany, Alan, Jasmine, Jamie, RCL, PJ, Carrie and Chris

Drama Arts/ Theatre – Felix, Lisa, Cody, Joey, Frankie, Marzia, Shane, Link, Rhett, Lucas, Zoe and Brigit

Lunch B – Phil, Tiffany, Dan, Alan, PJ, Jasmine, Zoe, Rhett, Aisha, Link, Cat, Shane, Jamie, Frankie, Brigit, Jarrell

CLASS FIVE

General Conglomerate – Phil, Denver, Dan, Felix, Tiffany

Rise Conglomerate – Frankie, Zack, Brigit, Anthony and Jarrell

AP Conglomerate – Lucas, Miranda, Cat and Chris

Honors Conglomerate – Link, Carrie, Shane, RCL and Jamie

Study Hall – Alan, PJ, Jasmine, Zoe, Rhett, Aisha, Felix, Lisa, Cody, Gerald, Joey and Marzia

CLASS SIX

Co-Ed Physical Education – Felix, Lisa, Cody, Joey, Shane, Link, Rhett, Lucas, Zoe, Denver, Tiffany, Alan, Jasmine, Jamie, RCL, PJ, Carrie, Chris and Brigit

History and Geography with Mr. Nolan – Aisha, Miranda, Cat and Anthony

Study Hall – Phil, Dan, Zack, Frankie and Jarrell

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In class one algebra, Mr. Hark is attempting to attract the students' attention. This is his first class ever to actually teach without someone silently grading him in the back of the room. He asks the class what they think about the teachers in their previous school and he catches a little gem from a certain boy in purple hair and pajamas that makes him uneasy: "They're okay. I mean, you can't just throw them into a bonfire."

In class two, before Miss Gloria begins Rise Maths, she wants to learn a little about each of her students. She calls them up alphabetical. Anthony points to his jacket, saying he plays baseball. Brigit starts off talking about her cats at home and gets cut off two minutes later while she is going on about her favorite flavor of cotton candy. Brock takes over, informing the teacher that she is cute.

"I love horses and my favorite color is pink." Frankie announces.

"Uh, I used to be smart." Jarrell assures the class. "And then stuff happened."

The teacher nods understanding and gestures for the last student to step up. Zack.

"Right, well. I curse a lot; I need to hold my tongue." His back pops as he sits down. "Fuck."

Miss Gloria bites back a response and begins class. In class three AP biology, Dr. Potts has divided her students into groups for a small lab assignment to see where their mental levels are on the subject. Lucas, Link, Shane and Carrie are in one group. Miranda, Cat, Chris and Jamie are in the other. They will be using a balloon attached to a Bunsen burner over an empty two-Liter bottle to expand the opening for a potato to fall inside. The first group is doing alright, having assigned the tasks. Lucas is holding the bottle, Link has the burner, Shane has the balloon and Carrie has the potato.

"How is it going over here?" Dr. Potts asks intrigued.

"We've got this in the bag." Carrie promises her.

Shane agrees. "We'll start this year off with a bang!"

No sooner does he say this, the balloon in his possession explodes. The group needs to restart the experiment and the teacher walks across the room to the other group. They aren't behaving as nicely. Jamie is mad at Miranda for slacking off, but she argues that the assignment isn't a four-person task. Cat is attempting to complete the assignment on her own, while Chris fumbles and complains that he isn't very scientifically smart.

"Would you guys quit arguing?" Chris groans, as he is unaware that the teacher is within earshot. "I don't know where to put the potato!"

Jamie nearly growls before sarcastically retorting, "Just stick the potato up your ass."

Chris lets out a gasp and throws the spud back to him. "Yeah? Why don't you go sign up for the sex club, Potato Ass?"

"That doesn't even make sense!" He yells. "How'd you even manage an AP class if you are so damn stupid?"

"What are your names, boys?" Dr. Potts frowns, holding a pad of paper.

"Jamie." He answers, glaring at his so-called friend.

"Chris." He responds similarly.

At lunch, Lucas is excited over the day's meal. "Mini hamburgers!"

"Calm your tits, Shanky." Miranda scoffs, shoving him in line.

Despite the remark, the two of them sit together in the band hallway – along with Marzia, Denver and Carrie. An obviously rich girl struts over to talk with the choir director. She looks over to their crowd and haughtily holds out her trumpet.

"Someone hold this while I speak to the director."

"Why?" Carrie asks pointedly. "Who the hell are you?"

"Clara Mealy." She answers in a huff. "The granddaughter of the CEO of the Board of Education? Duh. Hold."

The girl thrusts the musical instrument in Carrie's hands and struts into the classroom. Carrie tosses it on the floor and the others go back to their food. A little later, conversation steers to who Clara is and why how long she'll be.

"I want to dye her hair with oil." Denver comments suddenly. "Have all the bottle blonde ruined."

"I want to stuff her trumpet with the hamburger buns. Can you see all that bread just flying into the air when she tries it out?" Lucas adds in.

"I wanna spit in that trumpet." Marzia adds in decisively.

"You will do nothing of the kind." The choir director and Clara walk out.

The girl snatches her instrument. "Do something, Madam Perry. She threatened me and my piece."

"What is your name, girl?"

"Marzia."

"Well, Miss Masha"

"Marzia."

"You've just one a first class ticket to detention."

"Hurrah."

Meanwhile, in the co-ed gym class, they have just completed an exercise routine. The students were told to push through twenty jumping jacks, ten press-ups and five pull-ups. For each exercise they do not complete, they are to run an extra lap – meaning thirty-five laps if they choose to do none of the above. Anthony, Zack, Jarrell and Aisha have no problems with the original arrangement. Cat and Miranda simply run five laps. Dan and Phil, however, can only complete the jumps. Both can get up to four press-ups, and they end up running eleven laps.

Anthony, Zack, Jarrell, Aisha and Miranda are in their respective locker rooms and in the showers. Cat is waiting for Aisha and Miranda to finish, by finishing some homework she'd gotten in her second class. Dan and Phil almost collapse as they enter the locker room. The other guys are done and have left early for lunch. Dan crawls to a shower, complaining all the way. Phil stares at himself in the mirror first.

"I look like an emo fetus."

"Let's whip that out, then." The coach walks in, startling him. "Get showering."

"Yes, Sir."

While they enjoy second lunch, Felix is ogling his drama teacher when she walks in, pulling off her button-up.

"Hot in here, isn't it?"

"It's hot because you're here." He responds before realizing.

She only smirks. "And what's your name, Cutie?"

"Felix."

"Alright, felix, since you're so bold, you can be my assistant. Cool?"

"Cool."

In class six gym class, PJ is running behind everyone else. The coach catches him resting on the sidelines and asks him, "Do you wanna go and show the class what you can do or do you wanna just sit here imagining their legs getting cut off from running so much?"

Taking a breath, PJ responds half-serious. "Can I actually just break their legs?"

The coach shakes his head and moves on to another stopped student. In study hall, Frankie finds a cockhorse in the umbrella stand and starts galloping around the library. He crashes into Dan and Phil, who are researching separate assignments.

"What are you boys doing?" The librarian demands to know.

"I'm going to ride that horse into battle." Frankie smiles sheepishly, pointing to the horse toy that had flung from where he's fallen.

Frankie's mirror had fallen from his bag and Dan groans upon seeing his appearance. "From gym class to getting trampled… Hipster emo isn't a good look."

"What about, young man?" She expects an answer from Phil.

The dark-haired boy just barely looks up to her and gives her a response before dropping his head to the floor. "I hate horses."

"I'm sure you'll hate detention too. After school today, the three of you."

Sure enough, when the final bell rings for the day, there is a detention supervisor with the names of all the students who have detention. Her name is Miss McCrary, and she checks off each name as the student comes in. At the end of it all, there are seven freshmen (Marzia, Dan, Phil, Frankie, Brigit, Anthony and Tiffany), five sophomores (Ian, Troye, Tyler, Jazz and Claire), two juniors (Sean and Mark), and six seniors (Roadkill, Mac, Kevin, Stacey, Tracey and Lacey).

"Alright, you lot. No drinking, drugs or roughhousing. I'll be down at the lounge; two doors over. If it gets too loud in here, I'll stay in here the rest of the time. Door's locked when I leave. You're here for an hour. Everything cool?"

She hears a rough estimate of agreements and nods as she exits. Stacey, Tracey and Lacey look identical – only with difeerent hair colors and skin tones. They immediately take out identical nail polish and start their manicures. Sean and Mark take out their game devices and start playing against each other. Jazz hands Roadkill a cigarette, taking her pack to the vent system to smoke. Dan wants to join her but he is also terrified of her. Claire joins her instead. Ian, Troye and Tyler are in their own group. Anthony and Tiffany go to a corner to make out. The other freshmen feel out of place and just sit at their cluster of desks. Roadkill lights his cigarette as he and his cronies join them.

"Gay Baby Jail, Memelord, Terminator, Homosuck and Pizza Face." He greets with a snarl. "What the hell did you five do to land detention?"

None of them answer. Dan, Phil and Marzia stare at the table. Frankie looks elsewhere and Brigit feels like crying. One of his buddies, Mac, lightly slaps her cheek.

"Oi, Pizza Doll, my man here asked a question."

"Spying."

"Spying?" Mac laughs. "Where?"

"Boy's locker room." She mumbles up a lie. "During Lunch B."

Kevin laughs, turning to Frankie. "How 'bout you, Sugar?"

Frankie bites his lip. "We were messing around in the library. Dan, Phil and me."

"You all fucking?" Roadkill asks bluntly.

"No!" Dan answers, alarmed. "He was riding a stickhorse and crashed into Phil and me by the shelves."

Mac starts laughing at the response. Kevin joins in until Roadkill smacks both their heads. He takes a long puff from his smoke and points it to the freshmen.

"Open House is tomorrow. You all be there. A'ight?"

Detention goes by pretty quick after the seniors leave their table. The next day, in English class, the freshmen are called up to produce their own usernames for the school computers. This way, they can log on, buy tickets, buy lunch, and other things that require "student signature/verification". From class one, Lucas becomes "imanalien", Link is now "missinglink", Miranda is "whatever", Cat is "witchplease", Carrie is "2smart", Shane is "gurlcrazeenerd99", Chris is "rawrkitty98", and Jamie is now "kooliokid".

From class two, Lisa is "shoppergurl", Alan is "thetenor", Cody is "420man", Felix is "mamasboy93", PJ is "xDDD", and Tiffany is "liketotes". From class three, Jasmine is"wowza", Gerald is "sowhatdoidonow", Zoe is "zoella", Joey is "qtpi99", Rhett is "grammarnazirespect", Marzia is "2cute4u", Aisha is "justputdownwhatever", and RCL is "thisissoembarrassing". Finally, from class five, Frankie is "horsieluvr", Zack is "heartlovexoxo", Brigit is "gossipqueen", Anthony is "password", Jarrell is "JarrellTheFail", Phil is "xXemoboyXx", Denver is "underscore", and Dan is "cupquakeunicorn".

It is soon time for Open House, and Brigit has been following PJ and Alan like a lost puppy. She feels the need to insert commentary in everything they come across and PJ has had enough. He spins around and attempts to put it in the nicest way possible.

"I cannot handle your awfulness." When she stares back at him in confusion, he makes a sweeping motion with his hands. "Shoo."

When he turns back, Mac is there. Before, either freshman can say a thing; the senior punches both in the face. It isn't hard enough to attract blood or even leave a bruise, just enough to throw them off track. Alan is in shock, but PJ just laughs it off. Kevin and his bitchy girlfriend Apple step up to Marzia, Shane, Jamie and Lucas with two fists raised each. A little tougher than Mac, they punch the four and walk away. Lucas cannot hold back tears and Marzia stares in disbelief, while Jamie shoves Apple, and Shane punches Kevin right back.

Stacey, Tracey and Lacey walk up to Chris, Joey and Felix standing in the corner. Each girl raises a hand and each hand slaps a boy. There are rings on the girls' fingers, so it leaves a mark. Joey silently stares in disbelief, while Felix and Chris yell crude words to the ladies. Roadkill, along with Mac and Kevin, steps up to Frankie, Dan and Phil just outside the social event. The three seniors harshly punch the three freshmen, hard enough to cause Frankie and Phil's mouths to bleed and Dan to fall on his ass. Dan stares back at Roadkill in disbelief, as Frankie and Phil punch Kevin and Mac – respectively – harder, and in the same spot. Roadkill leaves the boys be and rounds up on his next victim: Zack. After the hit, the freshman attacks the senior. Both are called out of conduct and given detentions for the next school day.

By the time the first month of school wraps up, the dozen is closer to each other – once again unrevling what they had tried to convey. Marzia takes note-taking too seriously for the stereotypical cheerleader, thus her new nickname as Librarian. No one is really paying much attention to Felix, not even the other skaters or slackers. Jamie is more perfectionist and teacher's pet, and less bully. He is actually pretty nice to most peple and sarcastic to some. Lucas has a new horrifying nickname: Horsey Daddy. He has taken over Frankie's love of horses, and brought it to a whole new level.

Chris has gone from reading sex tips to listening to My Chemical Romance twenty-four/seven. People have come to call him a goth poser. Likewise, PJ has gone from playing on his game device every hour to reading romance novels and searching for his soulmate. A lot of people call him a pansy because of it. Joey isn't feeling the acting bug much and switches his theatre class to gym. He wears a lot of AXE body spray, and it has helped him to gain a boyfriend in the outed bully Melvin.

Phil tries warning Joey, but it is no use. Shane still daydreams into his own world, but it isn't as bad as it was right before school. Besides, he likes drumming on the lockers more anyway. Zack is still a punk, but Roadkill is now calling him BJ Baby, since he is ruining the innocent kids' views on love by telling them all about the dirty natures of sex. Frankie has bounced from hipster wannabe to drama papa. Everyone comes to him with his or her issues. While he has a tendency to solve them, he can be often two-faced about it. He still loves horses and has stolen the love for purple colors from Joey – though his hair remains a pink tint.

Dan still smokes cigarettes and makes "your mum" jokes, and now people have begun to call him Shortstack. He is short compared to several others in class, though he is still sorta tall. His hair causes him to look like a hobbit, so he now straightens it before school. Phil has been branded as an emo poser because he drinks black coffee at lunch and he wrote a poem about death in Enlgish class – that got published in the school magazine. Frankie is left home alone in early October, so he blasts Beyonce and calls over his friends to have their equivalent of a rave. Zack, been bored out of his mind and also home alone, is the first to come over. It doesn't last long though, and his parents are on the way back in just two hours. In the middle of October, everyone in gym class is split into two teams for a dodgeball competition. Team A contains Lisa, Zoe, Alan, Brigit, PJ, Shane, Aisha, Cody, RCL, Cat, Felix, Zack, Jarrell and Miranda. Team B contains Link, Rhett, Marzia, Denver, Jamie, Lucas, Tiffany, Chris, Jasmine, Carrie, Frankie, Dan, Anthony, Phil and Joey.

Dan and Shane list off a number of reasons why not to play, but they are forced to anyway. Phil stands motionless in the middle of the gym and gets bombarded with four hits at once. While Phil is out of the game, Jasmine, Jamie, Chris and Anthony also get out Lisa, Zoe, Aisha and Jarrell. Joey, Shane and Dan soon get out as well. RCL and Miranda gang up on Chris, who actually gets hurt along with being out. While PJ isn't the leader, he leads his team in getting out the girls, even though they are on the same team. Team A is down to Alan, Brigit, PJ, Cody, Cat, Felix and Zack. Team B is down to Link, Rhett, Marzia, Denver, Jamie, Lucas, Tiffany, Jasmine, Carrie, Frankie and Anthony. Marzia flinches at the bombardment aimed at her; she Link and rhett end up eliminated. Tiffany and Carrie had been squabbling when out. When cody is disoriented with the drugs in his system finally catching up to him, the dodgeballs thorwn at him finally nab the target. Felix laughs at this and is out.

Denver slips and PJ trips. Somehow, they manage to get each other out. Team A is now Alan, Brigit, Cat and Zack. Team B is now Jamie, Lucas, Jasmine, Frankie and Anthony. Jamie talks to everyone, distrating Brigit so Lucas can get her out. Alan starts singing, distracting Anthony and Jasmine, getting them out. Alan, Cat and Zack versus Jamie, Lucas and Frankie. Frankie is a secret weapon and has a plan. He taunts Zack, nearly pissing him off with the things he says. Finally, he has enough. He grabs two dodgeballs and hurls them at the opposite team. Team B immediately drops to their stomachs, as the dodgeballs sail over their heads, bounce off the back wall, and directly hit Alan and Cat. Jamie and Lucas arm themselves and throw the balls simultaneously. Zack dodge them, but is unprepared for Frankie's final blow.

After the epic battle and the showers, Joey stops in his tracks. His supposed boyfriend is kissing Tracey, the senior cheerleader, by the lockers. They are really going at it. Joey decides to text him, ordering the others to hold off.

[To: Melvin; From: Joey

Hey, Babe. We won.]

He watches as Melvin carelessly taeks out his phone. He hastily writes a reply and goes back to fully macking on Tracey.

[To Joey; From: Melvin

Im the winner/ I got u]

The simple text makes Joey's blood bubble. He writes out another reply.

[To Melvin; From Joey

Until you kissed a girl

And u liked it]

As he presses send, he is no longer holding back his friends. Frankie, Zack and Anthony march over as Melvin reads the latest message. Anthony nicely pulls Tracey away so the other two can shove Melvin into the lockers.

"What the hell, you little bitches? Aww, did I get in the middle of a lover's spat?"

"You're a creep." Frankie points out. "No wonder Joey's broke up with you."

"I felt sorry for the kid."

He shrugs. He then goes into full fighter mode and punches the shit out of Zack. He takes off running, but Frankie leaps onto his back, harshly tackling him to the ground. Frankie and Anthony start whaling on Melvin when Madam Perry clears her throat behind them.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"He's a bitch and he cheated on my friend with another bitch." Frankie stands angrily.

"Well, the three of you just got a detention. I expect you to be there, young man."

At the school, there is a Halloween party. However, the dozen decide to have their own. They haven't really been together much of the first quarter of the year aside from the big game. They have the party at PJ's house. His parents are at a charity costume ball with Lucas's and Felix's parents, Chris's aunt and mom, Dan's, Phil's and Frankie's moms, and Frankie and Jamie's grandpas. Jamie's brother Timmy is in sixth grade with Frankie's sister Ariana and Lucas's sister Allie. They are having a party at their school. Lucas's sister Emily is studying abroad; Maria and Nicole are at a college party; Stephanie is at the high school party with Fanny. Marzia's dad is at work; as is Joey's mom. Zack's brother Peyton, Dan's brother Adrian and Lucas's sister Kayla are in kindergarten, having a trick-or-treat party of their own.

Zack's and Shane's moms and Dan's and Phil's dads don't care whether the boys come home tonight or not. They opt for not. Lucas's youngest siblings are Ethan, one, and Jacob, a newborn, and are being watched over by a trusted neighbor. PJ makes sure to spike the ghoulish punch and decorate his house to make it look haunted. Marzia, Felix and Joey live in his neighborhood, so they are the first to arrive. Short on supplies, Marzia is dressed like a potato. Felix has dared to wear a sexy cowboy costume, and Joey is dressed like Charlie Chaplin. PJ is a zombie doctor.

Chris, Shane, Zack and Frankie show up next. Chris is dressed like a ninja, complete with a ski mask. Shane is a basic ghost, but with twigs and dirt in his costume sheet. Zack is dressed as an alien and is able to scare Marzia. Frankie is dressed as a sexy cat. Felix is feeling embarrassed in his costume by the time Dan and Phil show up. They are crossdressed, as they normally do for school assignments. Dan is Madonna and Phil is Elvira. Not long after, the rest of their crew shows up. Lucas is dressed identical to Chris and Jamie looks like a fallen angel.

Two hours into the party, it is finally getting a bit dark. Lucas and Chris leave the house with toilet paper and eggs, but no one minds much. Jamie starts the apple-bobbing, shocked that the liquid they are floating in is vodka, not water. He then joins Shane, who is sitting on a chair eating a pile of candy. Dan doesn't drink much, but Joey and Phil are definitely drunk. Another hour in, Jamie and Shane are passed out on the candy. PJ is asleep on the staircase, and Joey has thrown up all over Dan and their costumes. Dan is passed out in the tub and Joey is beside him, half-asleep against the toilet. Phil is dazily spinning in circles with a lamp. Marzia and Felix are completely out of it, but Zack and Frankie are making out.

Frankie guides the two of them to PJ's guest room that used to be his mom's office. He backs Zack against and onto the bed, quickly removing their shirts. Zack moans a little and Frankie lowers himself over his best friend. They kiss again, a bit more aggressively, as Frankie works through Zack's alien disguise and Zack attempts to find Frankie's zipper. Frankie's cosume stays on when Zack gives up. Frankie grinds down on Zack's hips and their erections meet. This continues a few minutes until the friction is too much.

"Fra-Frankie, baby, I, I wanna"

"Do you want to stop?" His lust-filled eyes show concern.

"I, I wanna," He glances down to Frankie's pelvic area and licks his lips.

"You wanna suck?" Frankie cocks his head in question.

Zack nods hungrily. Frankie completes what Zack was unable to do earlier, and entirely removes himself from his onesie. Frankie is bare in front of Zack, who nearly drops to his knees. Frnkie holds him up first.

"No, no. You, strip."

Zack does not need to be told twice. He kicks off his pants and nearly falls in his tipsy haze. He instead drops to face Frankie's solid member in his face. He salivates at the sight and looks back up to Frankie in confusion.

"Can you, uh, tell me what to do?"

"Have you never done this?"

"I, uh, no, but, uh, that's not. I mean, I've like, masturbated. I, um, can you just, like, be, dominant?"

Frankie's eyes darken. "Of course, baby." His voice lowers. "Suck."

Zack's eyes roll back and he places his mouth over Frankie's now twitching member and begins to bob. Frankie moans and is unable to control his hands before he grabs a fistful of Zack's hair, pulling him closer. Zack nearly melts hearing Frankie moan.

"Shit, fuck, fuck, stop."

Frankie abruptly pulls Zack away from his cock and the younger boy breathes unevenly in puzzlement. Frankie groans at Zack's face, mussed hair and red cheeks.

"Why, did I do someth"

"Shut up, Zack. I need to fuck you."

"Oh." He gasps.

Zack is once against thrust onto the bed. Frankie hovers over him, before leaning over to the bedside table and rummaging trough the drawer. Sure enough, taped to the underside, is some strawberry-flavored lube and condoms. He applies the condoms, and then squirts some lube onto his hand, tasting some before pushing one finger inside of Zack, while the other hand strokes him.

Zack lets out a heavy moan during scissoring, and Frankie cannot hold back. He removes his fingers, replacing them with his member. He shoots in, trembling as he holds back for a first-timer. Zack screams in pain and ecstasy. Frankie moans loudly, choosing to reduce the noise with biting Zack's collarbone. Another hiss erupts from Zack's mouth as his prostate is hit. Frankie smirks, keeping the pace up and hitting the same spot. They are screaming into each other's mouths as Frankie continues moving in and out.

"Faster! Faster! Fuck, Frankie. God! Harder! Fuck!"

Frankie follows what Zack desires and the two are screeching as the climax hits the boys.

"Frankie, I'm, I'm gonna cum…"

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm mmeeee too."

"Mmmm, Fuuuuuuuuck!" Zack cums on Frankie's hand and his own chest.

He has trouble catching his breath as Frankie continues to pump inside. Finally, he cums inside of Zack. He pulls out and collapses at his best friend's side.

"That was…" Zack gasps, still trying to catch his breath.

"Hot as fuck." Frankie finishes with a grin.

The boys choose sleep over showering for the time being. Frankie scoots up to the top of the bed, while Zack looks as though he is trying to leave.

"I know you're not about to fucking leave." Frankie snaps. He'd caught his breath a lot faster.

Zack has finally caught his. "I, you want me to stay?"

"Dammit, Zack. We are a fucking couple now. So, get your ass up here and spoon me."

"Yes Sir, Booty Pie."

"What did you just call me?" Frankie asks in awe.

"Um, Booty Pie?"

Frankie nods with a smile and kisses Zack sweetly. He then lies down and situates himself so Zack can spoon him. He loves being the smaller spoon. The two are comfortable, still naked and messy, and they fall asleep under the covers.

.

.

 **My Extra OCS:**

 **Denver (guitarist in band)**

 **Gerald (slacker)**

 **Jasmine (choir)**

 **Alan (choir)**

 **Miranda (AP bully)**

 **Carrie (Honors)**

 **Louise (drama geek)**

 **Ocea (skater/ choir)**

 **Tina (gamer)**

 **Brock (Remedial)**

 **Lil (chess nerd)**

 **Jazz (lives in detention)**

 **Claire (stoner/ track team)**

 **Angel (skater/ drama geek)**

 **Roadkill (BMOC)**

 **Stacey (cheer captain)**

 **Tracey (cheer co-captain)**

 **Lacey (ditzy cheerleader)**

 **Apple (Lost a baby; bully)**

 **Ahna (stylish; rich)**

 **Kathy (bitch/ bully)**

 **Kevin (biker/ bully)**

 **Mac (jock/ bully)**

 **Hunter (bully)**

 **Logan (emo; dating Hunter)**


End file.
